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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23640046">Bird's-eye View</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/emjam/pseuds/emjam'>emjam</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bickering, Canon-Typical Class Issues, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eyeball Meets Jasper, F/F, Fluff, Gem Fusion, Geographical Isolation, Identity Issues, Light Angst, Little Homeschool, Navigating Era 3, Post-Episode: s01e05 Bluebird, Redemption, Regeneration, Teammates to Friends to Fusion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:33:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23640046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/emjam/pseuds/emjam</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ruby and Aquamarine fly away from Beach City, they land on an isolated island to plan their next move. If they pretend to be a fusion born from friendship and not hate, they can convince Steven of their innocence and try this whole thing again. Right?</p><p>or,</p><p>Ruby and Aquamarine come to realize that maybe hate is the wrong way to go about things.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aquamarine &amp; Eyeball, Aquamarine/Eyeball (Steven Universe)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The leaves beneath them are very green, Ruby realizes.</p><p>Great pockets and copses and stretches of waxy, vibrant trees blur past. Curling vines and saturated flowers decorate the landscape. There’s only the occasional glimpse of ground and not-overwhelming-green. Before they hit this small protrusion of land, everything was lapis-blue ocean for what felt like lightyears. And Ruby knows a thing or two about lightyears. </p><p>The plants, the scenery, the climate - they’re nothing like that Steven’s territory of sand and wooded forest. This is somehow even more organic. Ruby wrinkles her nose.</p><p>And then the organic greenery comes closer.</p><p>“Hmm - Aquamarine, we’re losing air.”</p><p>“I know,” an impatient voice squeaks out above her. “I didn’t realize how far we’d have to go to find something that wasn’t the ocean, okay?”</p><p>Ruby is lifted out of the trees’ reach, but not by much. Aqua’s water wings swish overtime trying to keep them from a rough landing. Ruby’s brow furrows. She doesn’t have the best depth perception, but this doesn’t look like it can work. “This won’t -”</p><p>And then all either of them can see is leaves and trees.</p><p>The world is a tumble of Earth life. Wet foliage smacks Ruby’s face. Twigs spring up to meet her with snapping pain. Her mouth opens of its own accord to scream, but she receives a mouthful of dirty leaves. Faintly above her is the sound of her team member similarly crashing through the forest. She can only spare a thought about how ungraceful that must be for an Aquamarine, and then she is face-first in slippery mud.</p><p>She groans into the Earth muck. Terrible.</p><p>A wet thud sounds beside her. Must be her teammate. It would be hilarious if it didn’t also happen to Ruby.</p><p>She peels herself off the ground, dragging a hand across her face to free her vision. “Bleh.” She spits a twig out. “Aquamarine, status?”</p><p>Aqua doesn’t respond at first. She just sinks into the mud. Ruby goes to poke her. “I said -”</p><p>Suddenly, Aqua’s up in a flurry of blue, mud-spotted rage. “Agh! I know what you said!” She flicks out her pointed wings and does her best to reach her wingspan across her own dirty face to wash it off. “I was getting tired because for <em> some </em> reason whoever designed this planet put a massive ocean in the middle of it with <em> no </em> use whatsoever! Flying across that whole thing is <em> exhausting </em> .” She kicks at a nearby bush. Its leaves rustle unharmed. “And maybe if you weren’t so heavy, I wouldn’t have fallen and we wouldn’t have gotten this… <em> stuff </em> all over us.” Indignant, she crosses her arms.</p><p>“<em> Me?! </em> You’re the one that refused to land on that tiny island we saw earlier! <em> ‘Oh no, that just won’t do,’ </em>” Ruby mocks in a high falsetto. In another time, she wouldn’t act in such a way towards an Aquamarine, but it’s Era 3, so who cares anymore?</p><p>“That is a terrible imitation of me, and you know it!” She shouts back. “And that ‘island’? It was practically a <em> tiny rock </em>! I need space to stretch my wings out!” She flutters them with a wet splash. “You Rubies never understand these things.”</p><p>“<em> Hey </em> -”</p><p>Aquamarine ignores her, talking for an audience of one. “And of course that dastardly fusion had to beat us with a single hit!” She clenches her small fists and straightens into a more civilized posture befitting her post - legs together, back straight. “If the Diamonds hadn’t confiscated my wand… I swear, I will always serve Blue in her radiance, but Era 3 is so <em> untoward </em>.”</p><p>In Ruby’s opinion, non-summoned weapons are more cheating than anything. Rubies on the frontline have had to go with only brute force, fusion, and the occasional summoned weapon for millennia. She’s from the Era of plenty, where enough resources on Homeworld meant that every Gem was made self-sufficient - no limb-enhancers or extra supplies required. But that isn’t her place to comment on. She simply wipes mud off her hands and her gemstone. “I still respect my Diamond.” Even though peace is so different from the wars she’s fought in since she emerged. Yellow Diamond’s last command still rings in her mind. <em> You have no obligation to me anymore. You can do whatever you like. </em></p><p>“Oh, please. Yellow’s stopped all of her strikes on other planets! What a waste. Though it has nothing to do with me, of course, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.” Aqua dusts herself off. “Stars, what is this organic gunk even made of? Who thought this mess up?”</p><p>“Our Diamonds know what they’re doing. Not that we serve their plans anymore anyways,” Ruby growls. She peers at their surroundings. Her keen hearing pick up on life rustling through the undergrowth, but none of it dangerously large. Constant noise seems to rumble through this forest. No immediate threats. Caution is still needed until they know more, but this doesn’t look like the worst place to recharge. Especially compared to the vast vacuum of space, but - “This seems like a stable enough location to set up camp and come up with a new plan. No threats that I can tell.” She reaches out and touches a waxy leaf. Water droplets slide off of it, and she shudders at their coldness.</p><p>She considers where they crashed. A full canopy above and wet dirt below. Only the barest spots of sunshine flicker across the ground through the trees. “We’re gonna need a spot with more sunlight.”</p><p>“Oh, yes, sure. Go find it then.”</p><p>Ruby looks to Aquamarine. She’s flitting about, looking at tiny many-legged earth creatures that crawl on the tree trunks. Unbidden, Ruby is reminded of Bluebird’s four legs, and how that massive fusion had swatted them down. Aquamarine squints at a bug with indifference. She picks one up, turns it back and forth, and flicks it off of her hand. Ruby clears her throat.</p><p>Aquamarine sighs. “What? Didn’t I tell you to leave?"</p><p>“We aren’t ranked anymore, soldier. You’re coming with me.”</p><p>Aquamarine lands delicately on the ground, in stark contrast with her anger. “Aquamarines aren’t made for these things! Scoping out camps and doing mission reports.” She takes on a self-deprecating tone. “Experienced, adept Rubies like you are much better suited for such work. I would just get us lost! Don’t you agree?”</p><p>“Not fallin’ for it,” Ruby says, strained. This Aquamarine is a real piece of work. Although, they were both cast out, which gives them a common base for teamwork. This is better and more useful than being alone.</p><p>“Oh, but I’ll just mess it up! You can’t make me slog around among these mucky, wet organics!” Frustration and contempt eke into her voice.</p><p>Ruby amends herself. This is <em> just barely </em>better than being alone. “You might not know much, but you’re gonna learn.” She steels herself and grabs the arm of a former uppercrust. </p><p>Aquamarine is affronted. “Excuse me -” At Ruby’s steadfast tugging, though, she gives up soon enough. Her feet begin to follow. “Ugh, fine. I suppose teamwork is an asset. And, as skilled as I am, I’ll surely be able to complete this task even better than you!”</p><p>Ruby just rolls her eye as they start trekking.</p><p>Lively moss crawls up a nearby tree trunk. Upon it, a delicate Earth creature gently flaps thin azure wings. Black detail crosses its wingspan, symmetrically portioning off sections of blue. Its skinny antennae point up to the sky. It’s so… gross looking. Ruby laughs, and points at the thing. “Hey, that Earthling reminds me of you!”</p><p>Aquamarine shrieks. “How dare you compare me to that disgusting thing!”</p><p>Ruby can barely contain her laughter. “What? It’s blue, it flies - it’s pretty much another Aquamarine. Go greet it.” She nudges Aqua over to it.</p><p>Aqua jumps up with fury. She turns her back on the creature. “This is not worth our time! Where is your mission mindset, Ruby? Are you defective or something?”</p><p>Ruby stiffens. She jabs a pointer finger at her partner. “You take that back. I was a respected soldier! Fully functional, and then some! Our current mission is nothing like assignments under the Diamonds. Don’t pretend it is.” Then she falters. Two organic wings flutter atop Aquamarine’s head. </p><p>The creature had landed on her.</p><p>“Oh <em> no </em>.” Aquamarine freezes. “It’s in my hair. Of course it is.”</p><p>Tension bleeds from Ruby. “Hup!” With ease, she jumps up and smacks the back of her teammate’s head. The thing flutters innocently away. </p><p>“Why in the universe did you do <em> that </em>?” Aquamarine sputters, smoothing down her hair.</p><p>“There, it’s gone.” Ruby grinds out. She puts her hands on her hips. “Let’s start searching.”</p><p>And so they start.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>us humans when we see a butterfly: aw, how beautiful!<br/>homeworld gems when they see a butterfly: what the FUCK is that nasty thing</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The duo discusses a new plan and encounters some trouble in the forest.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the middle of a small, rare clearing where sunlight hits the ground, Ruby and Aquamarine plot their next actions.</p>
<p>Ruby uses her chisel to slice a crosshatched pattern into the bark of the tree she sits against. In case they have to leave camp, she can notch the abundant Earth plants and create a path of sorts so they don’t get lost. That tip was unfortunately a lesson from prior experience. It had been her first time leading a platoon, too. She still thinks that mission is what ruined her chances of becoming a mission leader. It still boils her form at the thought. Serve Homeworld for over six thousand years and what does she get?</p>
<p>Cast out, apparently.</p>
<p>“I don’t think we can fool Steven and those other Gems with Bluebird Azurite again,” Aquamarine speculates. She perches upon a low branch and gesticulates as she speaks. Ruby finds it amusing that she refuses to actually sit on the muddy ground. “They know our motives now. So how can we get close to them without being met with an army of strong Gems?”</p>
<p>“Hmm.” Ruby pauses her chisel-scratchings to tap her weapon against her bottom lip. “They value fusion, for some reason. What was it that, ugh, <em>Steven </em>said?”</p>
<p>“Oh, goodness, don’t remind me.” Aquamarine adopts a condescending tone. “‘<em>Friendship, responsibility, love - if you fuse for those reasons, you’ll be warm!’</em> or whatever. I couldn’t listen to him for that long.”</p>
<p>“They knew who we were from the start. They probably thought we were fused for one of their dumb reasons.” Ruby lets her chisel disappear into flashes of light as she smacks a fist into her palm. “That’s it! We should go back as Bluebird and make them believe that we’re fused because we like each other, and <em>not </em>because we hate Steven!”</p>
<p>Aquamarine shoots up, pixie wings flaring out in delight. “That’s genius!”</p>
<p>The compliment makes Ruby fizz in uncertainty, the buzz dulling her treasured feeling of triumph. No one’s ever said something like that about her ideas before.</p>
<p>“Of course, we’ll have to sell it. No falling apart. We <em>have </em>to be ready,” Aqua continues. She reaches up to her hair, but her palm lands flat on the top of her head - no wand in sight. She shakes off the dissonance and just points at Ruby with her finger instead. “Your fusion skills are in dire need of a polish.”</p>
<p>“Me?” Ruby growls, heat rising within her. “I have fused perfectly with countless Rubies! I can fuse just fine. This is not a problem with <em>my </em>fusion. It’s a problem of how <em>we </em>fuse with each other.”</p>
<p>“I - what?” She pauses. “I honestly thought you were going to tell me that my fusion was a problem instead.”</p>
<p>“Well, you certainly don’t make it easy,” Ruby mutters under her breath, arms crossed.</p>
<p>“What did you say?”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter. My point is, we both know how to fuse. We just need to make a more functional Bluebird.” Her chisel is back in her hand. She digs its long, flat edge into the mud and marks nonsensical patterns to blow off steam. “What we need is practice. Training.” The chisel snags on thick mud - it won’t go any further. She sighs and lets the weapon dissipate. “This location is ideal, really. We won’t have many interruptions.”</p>
<p>“Training?” Her teammate questions. She leans forward, draping herself across the tree branch. “I’ve never trained for anything before. Except for my certification, but that was a mental feat, not a physical one,” she waves off.</p>
<p>“If we train our fusion, it’ll be both mental and physical. We gotta sync up in every way to pull this off. If not, the Crystal Gems might catch on, and then we’ll just be back at square one.” At the lack of response, Ruby looks up.</p>
<p>Aquamarine had apparently stopped listening - instead, she rests her chin on her hands and looks up at the copious leaves. “Oh, I just can’t wait to see the look on Steven’s face once we dupe him for real this time! <em>‘Oh, Bluebird, I thought you had changed!</em>’” She mimes the slice of a sword through the air. “And then we get him with our cutlass!”</p>
<p>Ruby grins. “Yeah! Bam!” She punches the air with two rapid-fire fists. “And then he’s gone forever!”</p>
<p>“It will be perfect, I just know it! ...and then what will we do?” She ponders.</p>
<p>The question hits Ruby sideways. “Wh - huh?”</p>
<p>“Well, our mission has an end. I suppose we’ll go our separate ways.” She thrums her fingers against the branch in thought, and then waves a hand through the air. “But that’s fine, of course!” She quickly tacks on.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Ruby responds. “Fine.”</p><hr/>
<p>White glow after white glow bleaches the trees and bushes. A strangled shout drives away a flock of birds that flies off through gaps in the canopy.</p>
<p>Ruby tumbles onto the grass and clutches her head. She bares feral, angry teeth. “Argh! How are we supposed to do this?!”</p>
<p>“Clearly you’re not doing it right.” Aquamarine picks a leaf off of her dress and stands. “Listen. We both hate Steven, yes?”</p>
<p>“Ugh. Right.”</p>
<p>“So then this should work!” She steps forward and holds out her hand. Ruby engulfs it with hers, and Aquamarine pulls her up.</p>
<p>“Again,” Ruby commands.</p>
<p>Another white glow swallows their forms. They twist and turn together, their Gems rolling in limbo and searching for somewhere to settle. With an ethereal <em>pop</em>, the two instantly separate, flung in opposite directions. Two loud noises as they crash into opposite foliage - thud, thud.</p>
<p>“Gah! You know what the problem is?!” Ruby shouts. She kicks her legs against the tree branch that had caught her fall.</p>
<p>“Oh, please enlighten me, I’m so <em>curious!” </em>Aquamarine bites back. She tries to fight her way out of a tangled bush.</p>
<p>“You’re going into this with yourself on a pedestal!” Ruby smacks the rough bark with her hand. Oh - she slips downwards. She scrambles to circle her arms around the branch and drops down safely to the ground. Her chest puffs out. It feels full of coal. “You might be an Aquamarine, but your Gem doesn’t mean nothin’. So stop acting like it does. We can’t do this if we’re not on the same page.” She growls in frustration.</p>
<p>An undignified sound comes from the tangle of limbs and sticks. Aquamarine finally frees herself from the bush. With one smooth motion, leftover water droplets fly off of her form and into the wilderness. She flits up to Ruby and confronts her, nose-to-noseless-face. “You must be kidding! Of <em>course</em> my Gem means something! The Diamonds personally assigned me to high-profile, delicate operations for a reason - the same reason that you Rubies are assigned to grunt work. We are <em>not </em>the same.”</p>
<p>A boil-simmering feeling warms Ruby’s core. “Look around you, Aqua!” She shouts.</p>
<p>The sad waxy leaves drip water from the most recent rain. Slick bark and eternally-wet dirt are a constant reminder of the planet’s weather cycle. An Aquamarine and a Ruby are bickering in the middle of a Gemless forest. Somewhere many miles away, Steven Universe lives with Gems and humans alike. He has established universal peace with endless discussion and Diamond politics. And in this tropical forest, in the present moment, two mismatched Gems are each other’s only company in their hatred.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter what used to be. It’s a new Era whether we like it or not. We’re the same now. We’ve both fallen.”</p>
<p>“<em>I</em> had status to fall from.” Aquamarine is quiet and calculated when she asks, “What did you fall from?”</p>
<p>Ruby grits her teeth. “You don’t need status to lose your dignity. Your Diamond. Your purpose.”</p>
<p>They look each other in the eye for an agonizing moment.</p>
<p>“Fine. I suppose - I mean, I can see what you’re saying. Even if I don’t like it,” Aquamarine mutters. “Perhaps -” Her mouth becomes a flat line.</p>
<p>“Perhaps what?” Ruby grunts.</p>
<p>Aquamarine worries her lip with her prim-cut fangs. She takes a breath. “Perhaps I’ve been going about this the wrong way before.”</p>
<p>Did someone pull the Earth from beneath Ruby? She's never heard Aquamarine admit a wrongdoing. Ever. “Wow. I didn’t expect you to actually get what I was saying.”</p>
<p>“I am very intelligent!” She protests. “My mistakes are rare, but I will admit that they happen.” She holds out her hand in another invitation. “Let us try this again.”</p>
<p>Ruby reaches out to take her hand, but she doesn’t get the chance, because the Earth beneath them <em>shakes</em>.</p>
<p>“Ahh!” Ruby teeters. Her arms windmill until she’s sure she won’t fall over. Foliage drifts off the trees; water droplets slip down onto her from their leafy reservoirs. “What was that!?”</p>
<p>“I -” She’s ready to produce an answer, but it doesn’t come. Her fluid wings go rigid. “I’m not sure.”</p>
<p>Another quake. The woods are too dense to see anything. Verdant life fills every visible nook and cranny. Dark bark and slick leafage reveals nothing, but heavy cracks and snaps - the sound of crushed wildlife - come from somewhere to their left.</p>
<p>“Oh, gracious, what now?”</p>
<p>“Aqua, lift me!” Ruby barks. Ancient adrenaline - she knows this feeling of action and terror. Whatever that thing is, it must be huge, the way it seems to be crashing through the forest and shaking the earth. They have to act fast.</p>
<p>“What! Why?”</p>
<p>She doesn’t have time for this. “If we’re both in the air we can get an overhead advantage. Come on, go!”</p>
<p>With only a hint of an insult, Aquamarine slots her hands under Ruby’s arms. The telltale sound of flapping water and bursts of moving air fill Ruby’s senses. They ascend and nestle themselves in a thick-leaved tree just as a large, dark silhouette makes itself known between the trees.</p>
<p>“Earth is such a pain,” Aquamarine mutters. Ruby shushes her.</p>
<p>Animalistic sniffles and snorts come from the silhouette. Eventually, a horned head pokes out into their clearing. One large purple paw pats at the ground. The creature sniffs again and pads into the clearing proper, trees creaking around it. It has no eyes. Six paws. A lilac mane - fur matted and dirtied from rainwater - and a large jaw lined with deadly teeth. Four dark dusky horns arc off of the head. The thing is huge and raw.</p>
<p>An Amethyst gem is lodged upon its snout.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s just another Gem.” Aqua rolls her eyes. She pops out of their hiding place. “Hey! This is our terrirory, you rude Amethyst! And what is the purpose of that hideous form?”</p>
<p>“Aquamarine!” Ruby hisses. Her throat is tight. A terrified shiver drags fingers along her spine. The huge purple brute garbles in Aqua’s direction and raises a paw fortified with long claws.</p>
<p>“What, Ruby?” She flutters back to her teammate. “Scared of an Amethyst?”</p>
<p>And Ruby thought that dealing with her old platoon was a pain. She just grabs Aqua and pulls her back into their semi-safe leaf enclosure, hands shaking. “I had heard the rumors, but I never thought I would see it myself.” Her chisel materializes and she grasps it from her Gem, though she’s not sure how it can help. “This <em>is </em>an Amethyst, but her mind is gone. She can’t understand us anymore.” She tries to blink away the image of the beast below, but she can’t. “This is corruption.”</p>
<p>“Corruption? What is <em>that</em> - “</p>
<p>A deafening thunk. Their refuge sways back and forth. With a wide eye, Ruby moves aside some leaves and peers down.</p>
<p>There’s the Amethyst, reduced to beast. It claws at the trunk of their tree and bats it with ease. A wail rips from its throat. Ruby's fought countless lifeforms on colony planets in the name of the Diamonds. Realistically speaking, this hulking beast isn't too unusual. But there's a gem on that creature. That creature <em>is</em> a Gem. Terrible. Terrifying.</p>
<p>It sits back on its haunches, reaches up, and with one swipe, the branch holding Ruby and Aquamarine separates from its trunk.</p>
<p>There’s nothing but air under Ruby. The chisel is forgotten and disappears. Her fingers lose grip on the wet bark of the trunk. In seconds she’s falling like a stone towards the grumbling maw of that broken Gem, shouting for dear life -</p>
<p>“Gotcha!” Someone says, and Ruby feels small hands lifting her out of certain doom -</p>
<p>Warmth, safety, flashes of sunlight and -</p>
<p>And then there’s a bright light, and Bluebird soars upwards towards the canopy above. The Amethyst below her is reduced to not much more than a dot. “Ha! Thought you got her, huh, you big pebble!” She draws her sword, slashes ice cutlasses into existence, and sends them flying.</p>
<p>Shink, shink, shink.</p>
<p>The monster rumbles in confusion. It shakes its head and makes a warbled, sad groan. Purple dust scatters. The sickly Amethyst gem thunks onto the ground.</p>
<p>Bluebird descends to meet their fallen predator. The hazy, clouded gem sits on wet dirt, not at all looking like a threat. Its facets are dull and lifeless. “Huh.” Bluebird smirks, satisfied. “That was a clean finish, eh?” The grin slides off their face soon enough, though. "Oh dear," she simply whispers. The fusion fizzles out without concerning pops, or form disruption, or arguing. A white wash simply pulls Bluebird away and leaves her components behind.</p>
<p>“Wow, we showed her, huh,” Ruby says without much punch behind it. She takes slow steps into the mushy grass to pick up the helpless Gem just laying there. Soggy greenery wets her boots, but she just picks up the Amethyst. “So this is corruption.”</p>
<p>“Well! If we’re that coordinated all the time, we’ll have no trouble convincing that Steven of our ‘good intentions’!” Aquamarine gloats ignorantly.</p>
<p>“Aquamarine, this -” Ruby stops - her hands are buzzing. It’s - it’s her; the Amethyst starts to hum. Light flickers to life inside her Gem. Ruby’s mouth goes dry. “Um, we have to get rid of this right now!”</p>
<p>“Ahhh!” Aquamarine grabs Ruby and hoists the two of them above the trees in the blink of an eye. “Throw it, throw it!”</p>
<p>“Ahhh!” Ruby winds up and chucks the overheating Gem as far as she can. They watch it arc out and fly off deep into another section of the forest.</p>
<p>Aquamarine flaps her wings in silence as Ruby hangs limply from her arms. Why didn't they just shatter it? What were they thinking?!</p>
<p>“Okay,” Ruby rasps. “We can deal with that later.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>these two: *have constipated, stilted communication*<br/>me: wow! proud of u two</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ruby and Aquamarine have some thinking to do about purpose and the past.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Was that what that Steven had meant?</p>
<p>Ruby scrapes her chisel along the end of a stick at a 45-degree angle, peeling bark off. She watches the curls of the plant’s shell fall to the ground. If the stake is sharp enough, it might withstand the shifting soils of this island.</p>
<p>Yesterday, in that moment, Bluebird wasn’t hate. She was protection. Safety. Defense. It felt different than all the other times they had fused to carry out a scheme. Bluebird is Ruby’s first mixed-gem fusion, so she can’t compare the experience of Bluebird to the underwhelming experience of simply being a bigger Ruby. Rubies gained strength alone in fusion with each other. However, she can say that Bluebird’s essence yesterday was... different. Like hands clasped together.</p>
<p>Ruby is naturally a high-temperature Gem, but Bluebird was a new type of warmth yesterday, even for her.</p>
<p>She blinks. Evidently she’s accidentally carved away her stick into nothing. A pile of shavings sits at her feet. “Rrrgh.” What a waste of time. Drifting off like that naive Ruby from her old platoon.</p>
<p>“Done those supports, Ruby?”</p>
<p>Ruby shakes off her thoughts. She stands and addresses her teammate, who’s flying in with a bundle of massive leafage. “Got ‘em all done, Aqua.” Thankfully the stick reduced to shavings was just an extra. Beside her is a stack of pointed branches. As far as she knows, the sticks will hold up - she squints at Aqua’s findings. “Wait a minute, lemme see those.” She steps around the copious bits of bark littered about and holds out her arms.</p>
<p>Aquamarine tensely shoulders her batch of long, flat leaves. “What? I got what you asked for!”</p>
<p>“No, just - I want to make sure we can use them!” Ruby grasps the leaves. They’re larger than even Bluebird, which is a plus if they want a secure roof. She tugs them into her arms. “Certainly wide and long enough. They’re waxy too. Good work, soldier.”</p>
<p>Aquamarine sputters. Is she flustered? “Of course they are. I have a perfect memory, after all.”</p>
<p>Ruby raises an eyebrow. “Perfect memory, huh?”</p>
<p>“It greatly aided the Diamonds with their laborious work. They really did need me around.”</p>
<p>“So then why did I specifically ask for leaves with wax on ‘em?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine pauses. “Oh. To, ah…”</p>
<p>Ruby would bet her gem that she would remember it word-for-word if it hadn’t likely bored her to the point of shattering. She had said, ‘yes, yes, I know what I’m doing,’ and flown off, of course.</p>
<p>“The wax obviously resists water,” Aquamarine pulls together. “Obviously.” She puts up a sly front, but keeps an eye on Ruby.</p>
<p>“Hmm. Yep, that’s right. I’ll just put these down while we work on the structure.” She drops the stack of leaves beside the support poles. “And, um.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>Ruby grinds her teeth. “Thank you,” she manages, as if someone’s holding her at the threat of cracking while she says it.</p>
<p>Aquamarine’s eyes widen. “What?” She squeaks. “I mean - yes.” Her words are halting. “Thank you as well.”</p>
<p>“Now come over here. You’re gonna learn how to set up a skeleton and thatch a roof.”</p>
<p>The Aquamarine clasps her hands and does her best at haughtily walking over. “If the rest of my class knew that this was what I would be doing with my certification -” she lets out a high laugh. “What a joke!”</p>
<p>“Maybe it’ll do ya good to do somethin’ hands-on.” She tosses her half of the stick pile. “Now, copy what I do.”</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<hr/>
<p>The roof had been completed right on time. Rain slides off of it with ease. Ruby watches it drizzle and plop. The storm is too heavy to see anything, so training would be a waste. All they can do is wait as the downpour attacks the dirt with large, heavy raindrops.</p>
<p>“Somewhere out there, that corrupted Amethyst is probably already reformed and prowling around,” Ruby says into the patter of the rain. The weather smothers.</p>
<p>“I’ve never needed to reform before. A luxury of being perfect, I suppose.”</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean perfection, that means no battles to fight - the words bite at Ruby’s tongue. “Every time I poofed, it was for my Diamond. I was proud to lose my form in her name.” Her shoulders hunch. “I haven’t reformed in a long, long time. Not since the War.”</p>
<p>“And now the only reason we would need to reform is because of mangy, dingy <em>Earth life</em>,” she spits. “Or a monstrous Amethyst.”</p>
<p>Ruby snorts. “Ha, yeah.”</p>
<p>Aquamarine picks at her dress. “If your form was interrupted, would you keep Yellow Diamond’s insignia in your reform?”</p>
<p>What kind of question is that? Ruby clenches her knees. The dig of her fingers stings. She’s uncertain. “Yeah, I would,” she growls. “What kind of Ruby do you think I am?”</p>
<p>“It was just a question.” Aquamarine doesn’t look at her. “It’s not like we have any orders from our Diamonds.” She almost sounds… bitter.</p>
<p>“I don’t know about you, but before we were booted, Yellow gave <em>me </em>an order.” Ruby crosses her arms. “<em>Do whatever you like. </em>That’s what she said.” She loosens and tries to stare impassively at the falling rain. “I still think about it.”</p>
<p>Aquamarine gives a dainty, stuck-up laugh, but Ruby figures she doesn’t mean anything by it. “Blue neglected to direct me at all before I left. That was her choice.”</p>
<p>“Did you <em>want </em>her to tell you something?”</p>
<p>She’s surprised to see Aqua shrug. “I took pride in completing her work perfectly, but I wasn’t attached. I’m not upset about her in particular. Though, a job to complete would be lovely. To put the pieces together.” She pauses. “I suppose we made our own mission in Their missions’ absence.”</p>
<p>“Yeah. I guess we did.” Ruby winces as a drop of water slides through the roof and drips onto her. It dissipates into smoke when it hits her form. Mission goals always benefit a larger end goal. A big idea - supporting the function of the empire, helping the development of a colony, collecting information to serve the betterment of Gemkind. “Aquamarine…” She clenches her fists against herself. “Why are we doing this?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine blinks - confused. “I thought it was obvious - revenge on Steven!”</p>
<p>“I know, but - why? What will that do for <em>us</em>?”</p>
<p>“Make us feel better, obviously!” A familiar defensive edge creeps into her voice.</p>
<p>“Better from what!” Ruby stands abruptly, shoulders hunched so that her head doesn’t punch a hole in the makeshift roofing. “Sure, we kill him! Or we make him hurt his friends! We’re just… doing what others did to us!”</p>
<p>“What?!” Aquamarine shoots up too. Confused and angry. She’s tiny, the perfect size for their little shelter, and Ruby frowns. “Steven’s the only person that did anything to us, we’re just trying to make it even!”</p>
<p>That’s not true - Ruby suddenly knows this, but she can’t say why. For some reason, she blurts out, “Don’t you know how corruption happened!? Didn’t you get the notice the Diamonds sent out? How sorry they were?”</p>
<p>“What?!” She says in a sudden small voice.</p>
<p>“That <em>thing</em> that we fought. That Amethyst. There used to be tons of Gems just like her, crawling this planet like brainless beasts. That ‘Steven’ is uncorrupting whoever he finds.” Ruby remembers that memo video -<em> if you know someone who is corrupted, let us know, and we’ll heal her. Don’t be shy; we’re here to help. </em>“They got that way because of the Diamonds. Their attack on Earth. You know the one.”</p>
<p>“Wha - but that was just to stop the rebellion! It was Rose’s <em>lackeys </em>that got corrupted.”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t just them! The Diamonds didn’t care. They obliterated their own - including respected Nephrites, Yellow’s own Quartz soldiers, esteemed pilots, researchers.” It hits her, then. How that had gone. How Ruby had praised the action back then, proud to serve such firm and resolute leaders. She had exalted their luminity, their luster. The face of that Amethyst was sightless and monstrous. Lost. That wasn’t luster. Who did that Amethyst used to serve? Was it Yellow?</p>
<p>“Ruby,” she says coldy. “What are you trying to say?”</p>
<p>“I-I don’t know!” Ruby’s traitorous voice trembles. It isn’t made to do that. Her mind spins. “I’m takin’ a walk.”</p>
<p>She doesn’t look at Aquamarine. She just walks out.</p>
<p>Cold rain pitter-patters against her angry red form and hisses against it. It’s dark, and wet, and cold.</p>
<p>Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz all along. She knows this. Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz.</p>
<p>She squares her shoulders and marches through the chilly undergrowth at random. Pink had shattered herself and became a different Gem for this waste of a planet. It has plenty of resources, but that wasn’t Pink’s plan. Pink wanted to just… leave this be. Earth is unordered, messy, organic, meandering… the opposite of Homeworld.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s why.</p>
<p>Something that isn’t rain drips down her right cheek. What is this feeling?</p>
<p>Her determined stomping slows to a wandering stroll.</p>
<p>The news of Pink's true fate had changed everything about the past, restructured it and moved its pieces. Rose Quartz was a Diamond that Ruby once would have felt pure glee over poofing and shattering. Inducing pain to her. Ruby is no stranger to inducing pain. She’s seen countless battlefields and weaponry - she saw the “shattering” herself! And she would have loved to destroy the lowly soldier that saw fit to confront the inherent value of a Diamond over all others. To think that a Diamond faked something so dreadful just to escape her illustrious status...</p>
<p>The Empire never meant anything. Thousands of years of trudging through trenches, following orders, giving orders - all swept away from under Ruby’s feet, like a simple drawing in the sand washed to nothing from the waves.</p>
<p><em>Do whatever you like</em>.</p>
<p>What does that mean?</p>
<p>The cold rain pitter-patters. She sits down in it, manifests her chisel, and stares at it. It’s familiar in her hand. She’s used it to carve and plan and poof and shatter. Now she just uses it to scratch up these trees and branches. It leaves her, disappearing into tiny sparkles of light. She stares at her lap in the darkness.</p>
<p>She had liked when they had formed Bluebird to protect against that Amethyst.</p>
<p>It’s light again, and not as wet, when Aquamarine finds her sitting amongst the lush ferns and bushes.</p>
<p>“Ruby, there you are! You don’t know the lengths I’ve gone to trying to find you!”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine backs up. “What?”</p>
<p>“Why did you want to find me?” Ruby grinds out.</p>
<p>“What do you mean, ‘why?’ We’re partners, of course. We can’t have Bluebird without half of her, can we?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Ruby doesn’t look up at her.</p>
<p>“So we’re fine now, right?”</p>
<p>Ruby’s mouth is clamped shut. She doesn’t want to talk. She wants to be in her head for a while.</p>
<p>Soft rustling beside her. Ruby can’t see to her left, but assumes it’s Aqua, and she’d be correct. Aquamarine sits down in the muddy post-rain dirt, surely smearing organic matter all over her form in the process. “Listen,” she says. “I’ve been… thinking. About what you said.”</p>
<p>“Mmhm.”</p>
<p>“We were specialized tools - that’s what we were made for. And the moment the Diamonds decide that we aren’t like that anymore, we just aren’t? They just <em>decide </em>all willy-nilly - ‘oh, I suppose Gems don’t need to be used like puppets anymore, let’s just stop that.’ And so they stopped.”</p>
<p>“And if we aren’t tools, what are we for,” Ruby whispered, almost to herself.</p>
<p>“Exactly. Why did we stay in that structure for entire eras, grown for a purpose we couldn’t change, when the Diamonds could just stand up one day and decide they’re done with it? With us?” Suddenly one of her petite arms flies into view, almost in Ruby’s lap, as she gestures.</p>
<p>“Ahh!” Ruby jolts, shaking the water-laden ferns. She had no way to see that coming. “Jeez, I didn’t know you were that close to me.”</p>
<p>“Really? But I -” A pause. “Oh. I’m… sorry.” She stands, dusts herself off, and crosses Ruby’s vision to come sit at her right side instead. Now Ruby can see her out of the corner of her one eye, her dirtied blue dress and her short hair and her small, twinkling gem.</p>
<p>“Um, thanks. For moving.” No one’s been considerate of Ruby’s gem placement before. It’s just something she’s had to deal with.</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>“The Diamonds do whatever they want. They always did,” Ruby adds lowly. “And if they just decide to change everything, we have no choice but to adjust.”</p>
<p>“Isn’t that what Steven’s ‘Tiny School’ or whatever is about?” Aquamarine asks.</p>
<p>Oh. “Oh, jeez.” Ruby plops her face in her hands and shuts her teary eye. “What are we <em>doing</em>? We can’t hurt this ‘Steven.’ He’s practically the only Gem steering this… this mess!"</p>
<p>“He didn’t do this to us,” Aquamarine says, realizing as she speaks. “The Diamonds did. That’s what you were trying to say.”</p>
<p>Ruby sniffles. “I guess.” She sees her hands and feels her tears wetting her face, and cringes. “Don’t look at me.” She isn’t supposed to do this.</p>
<p>“Hmm. If I don’t follow anyone’s orders anymore, why should I follow yours?” Aquamarine hums teasingly. She doesn’t leave.</p>
<p>“You are the worst.” Ruby wipes her face roughly with one arm, but she’s silently thankful that Aquamarine stays.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ruby and Aquamarine consider what to do with their lives now.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What do we do now?” Aquamarine says to no one in particular.</p>
<p>Ruby is tired. Drained. She scrubs her face and stares down at tiny green upshoots poking up through the dirt at her feet. They’re walking back through the woods now, following the chisel-marks Ruby had left on the trees.“Whatever we like. I guess.”</p>
<p>“Ugh, what does that <em>mean?</em>”</p>
<p>“I know, right!” Ruby furrows her brow. She tries to think - really think back and pick apart. Rumination and examination aren’t in her natural skillset, but her mind continues to stretch out the concept regardless. “Back in Era 1, I liked… completing tasks that served a purpose. I don’t know. I guess carving stuff with my chisel is - f-fun.” She stumbles over the unfamiliar word. “Did I use that right?”</p>
<p>“I believe so.” Aquamarine says. She sighs. “I don’t even have a weapon to summon. Aquamarines were never equipped for that sort of thing.”</p>
<p>“Well - you still have wings, don’t you?” She tries. “And isn’t not having a weapon a good thing? Means you don’t have to fight, so you’re not disposable like us Rubies. And it signifies your status - you’re up there with Emeralds and Morganites.” They both know that castes are history, but it’s an easy compliment. Ruby’s never heard genuine upset from her before - just annoyance and condescension. Maybe a reminder of her cut and make would help.</p>
<p>“Not anymore, I’m not,” Aquamarine says quietly. “You know… I used to think Rubies were disposable, the way they were tossed about and shattered left and right.” She casts a kind of look at the Ruby beside her. “You aren’t all the same, though, I’ve realized. And maybe you’re better than Gems like me!” She laughs. “Us Aquamarines can’t even defend ourselves without our wands! All we can do is fly around and lift curtains for the <em>Diamonds</em>.” The last word drips of familiar contempt that she often directs towards Steven instead.</p>
<p>“Hey -” Ruby bites her tongue. It isn’t often she has to sort out what she wants to say. A lot of things spring to the forefront all at once - how Rubies like her <em>were</em> disposable, how Aquamarines did more than accentuate the Diamonds, how lots of Gems don’t emerge out of the Kindergarten with weapons to summon. What she settles on is: “F-flying is… an important skill. And it’s impressive. At least, I was impressed as Bluebird,” she adds, mostly to herself.</p>
<p>“You were? Really?”</p>
<p>Can Rubies get any redder than they already are? “Would I lie? Of course I was. I’m a grounded Gem. Bluebird’s the only flying I’ve ever done, other than ships, but that isn’t the same.” It’s a unique perspective, viewing the ground from above aloft your own wings, with the planet’s atmosphere rushing by you. Ruby blinks. “Ha! Another thing I <em>like </em>is flying!” She pounds her fist into her palm. “See? I’m figuring it out,” she assures herself.</p>
<p>“Well, I clearly have some work to do,” Aquamarine remarks bitterly.</p>
<p>Ruby feels an odd lurch at her tone. “Maybe you just gotta approach it from a different angle. What did you enjoy back on Homeworld?”</p>
<p>“Hmm.” Aquamarine considers for a moment. “I didn’t ‘enjoy’ many things. I more - took pride in them. Completing missions better than other Aquamarines. Making fun of the organics my crew would run into. That sort of thing.” Her eyes widen. “Homeworld wasn’t all that ‘fun’, was it?”</p>
<p>Okay, clearly that was a bad question. Ruby backtracks. “Nevermind, forget about that. What about once we got to Earth?”</p>
<p>“Oh, I think I have an answer for this one! I enjoyed…” She rubs her chin, and makes up her mind with a single clap of her hands. “Scheming with you.”</p>
<p>Ruby short-circuits. “Wait - what?”</p>
<p>“Yes! It was quite - <em>fun </em>- putting together all those pranks.”</p>
<p>“I guess it was, huh.” She plays with her hands, uncharacteristically knotted up and unsure. “I like being Bluebird.”</p>
<p>“Me too.”</p>
<p>Ruby stops. She looks at Aqua. “Wanna… try it again?”</p>
<p>“But -” Aquamarine stops as well, blinks. “There’s no danger! No goal! For what purpose would we form Bluebird?”</p>
<p>Right. She shrinks back as if burned. It was a stupid idea. Ridiculous. What had happened to a Ruby like her? Once a proud soldier… “I thought - since we’re trying to do what we like - Nevermind,” she grinds out, resigning herself to watching the ground, where an ant struggles to crawl up a slick blade of grass. There’s no way she’s looking over to see Aqua’s face, her demeaning eyes, that condescending look she usually addressed towards organics but would right now be addressing to <em>her</em>, to <em>Ruby</em> -</p>
<p>Shocked, short staccato laughter. The sound is less amused and more - surprised? It’s Aquamarine laughing to herself, a sound that could be grating or charming, depending.</p>
<p>At the moment Ruby just wants her to shut up.</p>
<p>She tenses. “What, are you just gonna laugh at me now?”</p>
<p>“No, that’s not it,” Aquamarine giggles. “I just - I used to berate my Topazes for getting sentimental about fusion. For fusing without reason.” Her light voice loses its laughter. “And now here I am,” she exhales.</p>
<p>Ruby peeks a glance at her. Aquamarine isn't smiling, not quite. Something complex and entangled. “I don’t get it. You mean, you… would want to?”</p>
<p>A pause that feels like more than empty air. “If you want to.” She looks at her own small, gloved hand as if she isn’t the one controlling it. That pure white palm holds itself out to Ruby. They’re both standing knee-deep in weeds, tired and confused and just a little bit new. Somewhere, organics rustle and chirp and eat the wildlife.</p>
<p>Ruby eyes her cautiously, but decides to brave a small smile. “Alright.” She grasps Aqua’s hand. “Let’s try this.”</p>
<p>A hesitant, slow-burning white crackles the air. They’re really doing this, just because - not to forward a plan, not to beat a monster, but just to <em>do</em>. Slipping into a new being didn’t initially come easy to them, and it’s still a novel experience, but this new attempt at Bluebird is slower, more deliberate, less action-oriented or Steven-oriented. It’s just... <em>Bluebird</em>-oriented. And that thought bleeds into a warm process of fusion of limbs, Gems, and minds.</p>
<p><em>Thump</em>.</p>
<p>The ground shakes.</p>
<p>They’re stuck between. A white Gem haze blurs their thoughts into one <em>oh come on really, okay go we need to do this now, it’s coming, it’s -</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Thump. Rumble.</em>
</p>
<p>Desperately, their glowing liquid form snaps too soon into Bluebird. She gasps a single breath and shoots upwards. Disoriented, frightened. “Where’s it coming from -” She’s hovering high and low in frantic search, but the vegetation is much thicker here than it was at their training clearing. Everywhere she looks, there’s massive ferns and winding, tumbling vines that obscure her view. She growls, frustrated. “If I don’t know where it is, I don’t know where to run!” She gasps. “What if it hits the camp? I was proud of that shelter! Wait -” Her form wavers and wobbles. She clutches her head. “We can’t -”</p>
<p><em>Thump</em>.</p>
<p>Purple in her vision. Purple - purple - purple -</p>
<p>“Grrrgh,” the Amethyst grumbles through monstrous teeth. Her gem glints poison-purple with an ill spill of green corrupting its luster. She bats at Bluebird’s flitting motions.</p>
<p>Bluebird propels herself backwards. “Oh, no you don’t!” Her cutlass sparkles into existence in the blink of an eye. “How rude of her!” She bemoans. “We were clearly doing something!” She draws up a few ice balls pressed into miniature cutlasses and sets them loose, but the beast below seems to remember that trick. The Amethyst leaps out of the way at the last second.</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>She shoots off a few more rounds of ice projectiles, but this Amethyst must retain its experiences even through a corrupt lens. Ice slices through leaves and into bark, but never sinks into the fur of its prey.</p>
<p>“Urgh!” Control begins to unravel like the threads of a string. She swipes her sword rapid-fire, recklessly sending off ice without precise aim. The Amethyst comes out of it unscathed with a few lunges and dives. “What’s wrong with you!” She shouts, hands clenched, eyes screwed shut, all four legs tensely extended in anger. “Just <em>poof!”</em></p>
<p><em>Smack</em>.</p>
<p>Searing pain. It’s not a dissimilar feeling to that Alexandrite’s wide palm, the way it shoved them through the whipping, nipping air at high speeds. Bluebird opens her eye to a world flying past her. One initial smear of purple, then blurs of blue, green, gray, brown, and then a resounding crack against bark that shakes the forest and settles into Bluebird’s skin.</p>
<p>She comes apart.</p>
<p>Ruby tumbles to the ground, whereas Aquamarine instinctively throws out her wings and flutters upwards. There’s so many warring noises, the shock of being thrown back into existence, the residual pain from the tree that felt as hard as a Diamond when they shot into it.</p>
<p>Aquamarine stutters in the air, directionless, dazed, and confused. “Where - what -” Her gaze travels downwards. “Ruby!”</p>
<p>Ruby’s form is face down, motionless, a red speck rich against the green.</p>
<p>She has to get to Ruby before that Amethyst does. And the Amethyst in question is right there, sniffing at Ruby’s hair.</p>
<p>“No!” Aquamarine shoots downwards towards ground level as fast as she can.</p>
<p>But the Amethyst has a paw on Ruby’s back. A big, heavy paw that could probably cleave a tree. And her hulking weight shifts, and with a curious tilt of her head, she pushes down. A red cloud mists into the air where Ruby’s form just was. A flash of red plops onto the grass.</p>
<p>What an awful sound.</p>
<p>Aquamarine draws in a choking gasp and flies back up into the canopy, sharp twigs scratching her and leaves wiping water on her. The Amethyst sniffs the air and nuzzles at the ground. She sways her horned head back and forth with a few throaty whines. Seeing that her antagonizers are all gone, she lets out one last heavy huff and lumbers away through the trees.</p>
<p>What is Aquamarine to do now?</p>
<p>She painstakingly sinks to the ground, careful to keep her feet from making too much noise. The Amethyst could still be nearby, and there’s no way Aquamarine could beat her on her own with just a pair of water wings and her own slight stature. Her vision blurs. It smears the sharp details of grass and rocks and Ruby’s gem into a mess of incoherent color. A blink or two pushes the tears back, but it’s a close thing. Gently, fearfully, she lifts Ruby’s gem into her hands. It glistens from grassy dew - is a bit dirtied from Earthly particles. Aquamarine rubs one thumb over the prominent square facet to take away the dirt and let Ruby’s true color through.</p>
<p>She’s going to need sunlight.</p>
<p>Aquamarine stands. She inspects her surroundings, clutches the silent gem close to her form, spreads her wings, and flies.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<hr/>
<p>Dark, endless black.</p>
<p>Not the kind from a planet’s natural rotation or a Gem kindergarten. This is more like having her eye shut, but… Ruby could swear that her eye was already open.</p>
<p>Everything is empty, except for her. But her body isn’t there.</p>
<p>Reformation. What - this is an old, old feeling. She hasn’t had to occupy this space in eons. And why?</p>
<p>An unbidden memory - splitting pain, a fall, ceaseless pressure. Oh. Hopefully Aquamarine picked her up. If not, it’s not like she hasn’t reformed alone before. There was a lot of that during the most hectic heat of the war - Gems popping into existence on a shard-strewn battlefield. The stumble back to base. The desperation. The survival.</p>
<p>Survival. She stretches out her limbs in this liminal space, feels her stubby fingers and toes. Her one eye. The opposite location, sightless, where her gem had happened to embed itself. Stocky legs, squarish hips, squarish hair. It’s all there. It’s all familiar.</p>
<p>But - her uniform.</p>
<p>In her mind’s eye she can see the spot of yellow on her red uniform. The perfect straight lines forming a perfect proportional diamond. Its location - central to her chest, where the bands of her Ruby-assigned uniform meet.</p>
<p>The cut of her outfit has been the same for thousands of years. It's comfortable, familiar, light, mobile. But she had never gotten to wear anything else before, especially not the flowing garb of the elites. Design tumbles over and over in her mind. The cut, the color, the diamond. Will she change? Will she stay the same?</p>
<p>Different sleeves and pants and torso pieces cycle through, hugging her and draping over her. This is the longest she's ever taken to reform. She's never put thought into it - before, it was just a static reset.</p>
<p>She thinks, and thinks, and thinks, and finally, she chooses.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bluebird's back.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ruby wakes up.</p>
<p>Her hard-light body forms the white outline of her old form, and then the silhouette of the new. She unfurls into existence out of her Gem, exuding fragments of light.</p>
<p>Her eye opens to the green forest that they’ve become intimately familiar with over time. “Huh. I’d say I color-matched pretty well.”</p>
<p>“Ruby?”</p>
<p>She jumps. The noise that leaves her mouth would usually embarrass her. “Huh?”</p>
<p>“Ruby, it’s me!”</p>
<p>Ruby spins around and squints in the bright daylight. This clearing she’d ended up in is full of sunlight falling through an unnatural break in the organic canopy. It almost looks as if something had crashed through the leaves and the thinner branches. “Aqua?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine is holding out her arms in a confused half-gesture, an aborted embrace. She’s kneeling in the ground foliage. She realizes herself and stands, and the grasses take a while to spring back up, weighed down over time. How long had she been kneeling there? Eventually, she lowers her arms and brushes herself off. “Yes! That’s… that’s me,” she says lamely. “You made some big changes, I see.”</p>
<p>Ruby glances down at her form. She had.</p>
<p>Ever since she'd emerged, she's always been a practical Gem. She’s stubborn in her adherence to plans, to schedules, to rules - or at least she used to be. Regardless of change, if nothing else she is still practical.</p>
<p>Everything green. The choice is ostensibly for Earth camouflage - a choice of practicality. Dark forest green for her shorts, the cut of which had essentially remained the same. They’re good for mobility, what can she say? But her tunic is different. No longer angry red with dark bars that meet at a Diamond - the entire design is new. A lighter fern green tight to her chest that rises up to meet her neck. She never did like how far her uniform had scooped down. In a bold move, she also opted for sheer sleeves - transparency typically saved for an elite or her Pearl. The small touch, the short light fabric hugging her shoulders, is a small, brave decision.</p>
<p>The green blends well into the wildlife, yes. That isn’t the only reason for it. Green is also a massive step away from her eons-old burgundy that survived rotation after rotation of countless planets serving the empire.</p>
<p>If anyone asks, though, it’s for camouflage.</p>
<p>Despite having made the choice to change, she still can’t quite comprehend the fact that she wielded the power to reshape herself. To decide. An unusual giddiness bubbles up within her.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I did.” Ruby twists and turns, taking peeks at her new outfit. It’s different seeing it in the mind’s eye versus seeing it in person. She puts her hands on her hips. “I think I like it!”</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>“I like it too,” Aquamarine surprisingly says. “I think it suits you, actually.” She has an odd look on her face that Ruby can't quite decipher - which is admittedly common. "Are you… alright?"</p>
<p>"Huh?" Ruby reddens. "I'm not hurt, I'm fine. She just poofed me." She's not sure what Aquamarine would've done if the Amethyst had actually cracked her.</p>
<p>"Well, of course your <em>form</em> is fine. But I still thought I should ask. It looked, ehm, painful." Her self-righteous tone tries to conform to respectful tact, and it doesn't quite succeed. It's very... her.</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah, that hurt pretty bad!" She furrows her brow and looks up at the trees again. "Nothin' a lil' regen couldn't fix, though."</p>
<p>Aquamarine's just staring at her.</p>
<p>Ruby looks back. In Aquamarine's face Ruby sees the expression once made by many a newly-emerged Ruby that looked up to Ruby herself as the oldest in a platoon. Admiration? That can't be. "What?"</p>
<p>"Oh, nothing, nothing," she waves off. Is she nervous?</p>
<p>"Um. Okay. Report on the big hole in the trees." Ruby points up to the noticeable hole in the tree cover.</p>
<p>"Ah. Well, you see, I was trying to find a place with sunlight to feed your Gem, but I didn’t want to spend too much time heading back to our sunny little clearing, so I just… made my own." She shrugs. “In retrospect, I wasn’t thinking all that clearly.”</p>
<p>Now that she's had an explanation, the break in the trees does seem to be the size of an Aquamarine. "Huh. Smart thinking, Aqua."</p>
<p>"Is it?" Aquamarine chirps. “I mean, of course it is.”</p>
<p>"Yeah, quick on your feet. How’d you cut through the branches? I’d at least need my chisel for a task like that.”</p>
<p>“Well, I just…” Aquamarine stops in uncharacteristic hesitation. “Flew through it a bunch, actually.”</p>
<p>What?</p>
<p>Rubies and Quartzes are the type to go crashing through the planetary growth if need be, but an Aquamarine? Involuntarily, the situation invokes an image of an Aquamarine getting squished like an Earth bug against a particularly large branch, leaving behind a little blue smear. Ruby can't help but make a face.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Aquamarine waves off with a small white hand when Ruby’s silence stretches on. Her sentences are running fast. “I wasn’t sure how much sun you would need and I’d never been trained on the care of a receded Gem, and I wasn’t sure where that Amethyst had crawled off too, so I was on a time limit, more or less - if I had my wand I could’ve -”</p>
<p>“Aquamarine.”</p>
<p>She stops talking.</p>
<p>Ruby steps just a tiny bit closer and forces herself to say the words: “Thank you for staying with me.” It’s a rarity in her life to reform beside someone. She can count the times on one hand in which she’s had company for that.</p>
<p>“Is that not normal, for -” Aquamarine pauses on the right word. “- equal teammates to keep an eye on their colleagues in a vulnerable moment?”</p>
<p>Vulnerable - that’s the word. It almost makes Ruby shrink in on herself at just how open she had been. Aquamarine had to have seen every one of Ruby’s Gem facets, had to have held Ruby’s silent lifeline in her hands. And she had made sure that Ruby had sunlight.</p>
<p>Ruby shakes her head regretfully. “You really weren’t there for the War.” And that’s all she has to say about that.</p>
<p>Aquamarine’s responding “oh” is almost lost in the forest noise.</p>
<p>Maybe Ruby shouldn’t have said that. “Wish I could've seen you doin' something like cuttin’ branches down without me forcin' you for once," Ruby smirks playfully, resting her arms behind her head, going for her typical tone to get out of the awkwardness. "Voluntary manual work from you is something I wouldn’t wanna miss."</p>
<p>"Hey!" She smacks Ruby's arm lightly, with a toothy smile. <em>Thank the stars</em>, Ruby thinks. "I am perfectly capable of laborious tasks! You've seen me do it!"</p>
<p>Back to normal for now.</p>
<p>Ruby freely laughs. "I know, I know, just messin' around." The light touches and the teasing... a stab of nostalgia hits for her old platoon. They were honestly a terrible team assignment, barely able to keep each other on task, but they always joked and jabbed at each other in a way that Ruby had grown accustomed to despite her stoicism. Where are they all now? "You ever miss your peers, Aqua?"</p>
<p>"Oh stars," Aqua starts. "I haven't thought of them in weeks! I suppose so. But we were all very vindictive towards each other. I think we saw each other as ladder rungs more than anything else."</p>
<p>"Oh. That's a shame," Ruby says. "I always admired Aquamarines for being able to fly so far up off the ground." She remembers at functions seeing their petite forms so very high above the Rubies, parting curtains or maneuvering items with their wands. Their blue skirts would dance and wave in neat, perfect layers. It could mesmerize her. Aquamarines are very pretty.</p>
<p>Well.</p>
<p>Ruby blushes.</p>
<p>"Yes, well, for all our status, we were very childish at times,” Aquamarine responds, oblivious.</p>
<p>"Ha, some Rubies were like that too." A lot of them were, honestly. But Ruby isn’t sure if she can blame them for that anymore.</p>
<p>"Oh yeah?" Aquamarine’s eyelids fall in the way they do when she’s about to poke fun. "Were you ever the sort to act the child, Ruby?"</p>
<p>Ruby scoffs. "I'm pretty old. If I ever did, I don't remember it." Nevermind that Rubies' personalities weren't even supposed to ever change. She figures that they're past that now. She thinks. "Do pranks as Bluebird count?" Shaking the soda can had been her idea, if she remembers correctly, which isn’t something she exactly does on the regular.</p>
<p>Aquamarine makes the grin of a mischievous sprite. "I'm going to say yes."</p>
<p>“Got me on a technicality - how will I ever recover?”</p>
<p>They’re both laughing and joking, but the jokes are less barbed than Ruby remembers them being. Something’s shifted - something’s changed between them, but Ruby would be hard-pressed to figure out exactly what.</p>
<p>It’s <em>warm</em>. Ruby runs hot and she’s never burned this warm before. She pushes Aquamarine’s shoulder in return for her arm hit earlier.</p>
<p>The air snaps between them. They hum into one.</p>
<p>Oh. Bluebird. Wait - <em>Bluebird?</em></p>
<p>As suddenly as it had happened, they separate.</p>
<p>Ruby blinks her one eye rapidly. “You can fuse <em>on accident?</em>” In her thousands of years of service and fusion work, she has never just <em>happened</em> to fuse with her fellow Rubies. The closest experience was - actually, it was a few days ago, when Bluebird popped into existence and poofed that damn Amethyst. They weren’t actively thinking of fusion then, either, but it wasn’t exactly the same - they were both thinking of the best way to fight back. Like all the other fusions of hers before Bluebird, that moment had been one of survival. But this was just - completely random. Like they had accidentally spilled into each other.</p>
<p>“Can you?! I have no idea!” Aquamarine is just as frantic, wiping down her hands on her skirts.</p>
<p>“Was it - is that bad?”</p>
<p>They stared at each other. Crickets chirped off somewhere in the woods.</p>
<p>“It didn’t <em>feel </em>bad,” Aquamarine acquiesced.</p>
<p>“What about the horror stories about - p-permafusion? Gems that just end up fused all the time and lose themselves?” Ruby stresses. “‘Cause they like it too much?” She had wanted to be Bluebird more, but - accidentally? It… to admit a flaw, it scared her.</p>
<p>“I remember the same stories.” A cool, thoughtful expression flattens her features. “But in light of anecdotal evidence, I never feel all that lost when we fuse.” She turns her curious eyes to Ruby. “Did you?”</p>
<p>“Actually,” Ruby pauses. “No.” She shakes her head. “Why does all that old stuff still kinda make me feel bad? We’re both ‘breaking a rule’ with cross-Gem fusion already. You would think I wouldn’t get hung up on smaller things that just don’t exist anymore,” she growls. Like her Diamond’s approval. That was an old need that she had to shake off in order to give the desired amount of thought to her reform.</p>
<p>“Hmm. I’m not sure. Though I was never as much of a traditionalist as you,” Aquamarine points out.</p>
<p>Ruby remembers. It was appalling, at first, to hear about how lenient she had been in fulfilling her human collection mission. Now, Ruby almost wishes she herself had disobeyed someone at least once in her life before the Empire disbanded. Maybe if she had, the aftermath wouldn’t have left her floundering in anger and aimlessness like it did.</p>
<p>Instead of being angry during the Diamonds’ reign, she’s just angry <em>now</em>, after everything has passed. The anger heating her core is overspill from the breaking dam of two complete Eras in which she was unable to express or manifest it.</p>
<p>“What has bein’ all traditional ever got me, anyways?” Ruby looks down and kicks at the dirt. Something cold touches her nose, and she jumps. In front of her, Aquamarine’s hand is already withdrawing.</p>
<p>Did a former elite just boop her nose?</p>
<p>Aquamarine just smiles her pixie smile. “Exactly!” She throws out her arms in a grand gesture. “Come on now, you’re the one that got me started on criticizing the Empire anyways! Dare I say, you’re practically a Rebel yourself!” She teases.</p>
<p>The uneasy smile that had begun on Ruby’s face drops. Instinctively her light-form catches on the insinuation - the accusation - that she would be a Rebel. But that’s kind of what they are now, isn’t it? In their own roundabout way, they’re following the Rebel values - self-determination, individualism, imperfection.</p>
<p>“Oh, I should’ve known how that would seem -”</p>
<p>Ruby interrupts. She scrubs at her face. “No, it’s - it’s okay, actually.” There’s fear, but fear without a basis. No one’s going to come in with destabilizers or Red Eyes or shatterer Quartzes at the implication of a <em>Rebel</em>. “You know what?” She grasps Aquamarine’s hand and smiles. “Let’s be Rebels.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bluebird is an interesting amalgamation.</p>
<p>Coming together to be one gives her an… interesting thought process, to say the least. She combines the traditional and the nontraditional, the hard and the easy, the stoicism and the pettiness all wrapped up in soldier versus elite. Neither of her components have known singular Gems that naturally have four legs, but for her they’re as easy to use as her wings.</p>
<p>The red of her shoes and shirt has changed to the soft color of tropical leaves.</p>
<p>This time, Ruby and Aquamarine had spilled into each other again, but they just let it happen. Bluebird’s wings stretch a little further, her mind is a little clearer, her reflexes a little faster. Her components should fuse like that all the time! Fusing for pranks is fun and all, but fusing for <em>herself</em> is worlds better.</p>
<p>She spends a day wandering the forest on her own. Leaves looked a little different through one new eye. Gleefully, she finds that she contains Ruby’s knowledge of survival - she can tell the best undergrowth for shelter, and the spots that get the most sunlight over the course of a day based on the position of the planet’s star. She has Aquamarine’s perfect memory. She knows how to find every spot to which they’ve already been on this island.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, she also shares their anger and short-sightedness, as demonstrated when she gets into a heated argument with an organic beetle-like creature that arguably cannot speak.</p>
<p>But that’s okay. She’s figuring things out together.</p>
<p>She returns to their shelter. Its waxy leaf roofing is just a little too short for her now, but she sits in it overnight to avoid another heavy rain. In the morning, she decides to act on something that bothered her in the night.</p>
<p>That Amethyst is still out there, enduring something unimaginable. It’s grotesque… but also not at fault. Everyone knows who’s at fault. Bluebird remembers well that Steven has a program for Gems like the corrupted Amethyst. And if Bluebird’s going to be a capital-R Rebel, she has to bring this issue to the Steven in charge, right?</p>
<p>
  <em>Poor, disgusting creature.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Come on, Aqua. She didn’t know this would happen to her. And we can help make it better.</em>
</p>
<p>If Bluebird looks into her split memories, she perfectly remembers the path Aquamarine took over the shining blue sea, and can trace it back to Little Homeworld. She takes note of her current location, flicks out her wings, and hovers above the island. Its greenery becomes little more than a speck as she rises through dense pockets of water vapor. It’s odd to see the island from such a different angle.</p>
<p>Alright, she knows where to go. She turns until she’s facing the right direction. A long flight is ahead.</p>
<p>Bluebird’s going back to Little Homeworld.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ruby being an ol' toughie: "yeah it hurt but it was nothin', I'm a tough Gem that can handle that sorta thing"<br/>Aquamarine: *subtle heart eyes emoji*</p>
<p>sorry I didn't realize this chapter would just be them talking ;__;</p>
<p>I went back to chapter 3 and chapter 4 and added art for them! If you're interested, more of my art can be found at my new insta @mars_a.r.t!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bluebird returns to Beach City.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s much easier to make it across a vast ocean with the combined strength of two Gems.</p>
<p>Bluebird flaps her wings with a wet snap. It’s been a few Earth hours. According to her mental map, it shouldn’t be far off now. In the distance she can see the outline of land. That’s the right beach, the right contour of sand and the right human skyline. She makes a beeline for it.</p>
<p>First, get some help for that Amethyst. Then - she doesn’t know. Attend that ‘school’? The idea makes her scoff, still hesitant to admit that Earth has lessons to offer. But - if not that, what else? Go back to that island? She's a Rebel now, technically. There’s no roadmap or programming to follow. And that’s why so many off-colors congregate on Earth in the first place. Maybe she should follow their lead. It’s not like she has anything else to go off of.</p>
<p>The buffer of the beach soon becomes clear to her, as do the colorful, lively structures of Little Homeworld. Various roofing spins and twirls. Of course Bluebird isn’t nervous. Her? Nervous? Ruby and Aquamarine have definitely never been uncertain about anything before.</p>
<p>Wait. She squints down at the land fast-approaching her, and stops in her tracks. Did a large pink creature <em>always </em>splash about in the ocean by the human settlements? And what -</p>
<p>Oh. None of her had ever been so close to the Diamonds before.</p>
<p>They were always distant figures at the far end of a ballroom, or intangible digital renderings on a broadcast screen. Her Opulence, Yellow Diamond. Her Radiance, Blue Diamond. And towering above them both, a gleaming figure of perfect cut, Her Purity: White Diamond. Littered around these staggering Gems are dots of smaller Gems and humans alike, all attempting to calm the rosy beast shuffling against the sand.</p>
<p>It would be nice, wouldn’t it, for the Diamonds to see Bluebird now. To know what had become of two Gems cast out from the reformed empire. Something in her spitefully wishes that a Diamond would turn her head. She insists to herself that she knows what the Diamonds must have assumed - the uselessness and hopelessness of a well-conditioned Ruby and Aquamarine - and every lightwave of her body is desperate to prove them <em>wrong</em>. <em>Look at me! One of those Gems you flicked off your shoulder when you didn’t need us anymore! I’m still here! I’m still around!</em></p>
<p>
  <em>I’m still relevant.</em>
</p>
<p>She doubts, though, that the Diamonds would even care.</p>
<p>The ocean sloshes in magnitudinal waves from the beast’s movements. Slices of water cut deep into the shoreline. A Diamond attempts to get close to the beast. Really, a Diamond, taking hands-on action?</p>
<p>Maybe Bluebird shouldn’t be here. Her Gem urges to spawn her weapon, but she doesn’t know enough about… whatever this is. And those Crystal Gems seem to be down there, which is enough for her to want to leave this scene.</p>
<p>So she leaves. She darts a fast left into the airspace above Little Homeworld and touches down all four feet in the main plaza. Her view is filled with yellow brick and rainbow structures. Again, she is thrust back into the antithesis of Homeworld.</p>
<p>Fusions and off-colors and insignia-less ex-soldiers mill about, muttering to themselves and pointing across the plaza in the direction of the city. Maybe they also know about the interesting events playing out near the Temple. An impressive Bismuth passes by, carrying construction materials on both shoulders. She’s the only one that seems secure in what she’s doing.</p>
<p>A confident face. That’s what Bluebird needs. None of these wavering Gems hovering around.</p>
<p>She approaches the Bismuth, whose overall buttons glint in the sunlight. “Hey there, you wouldn’t know where I could find Steven Universe to report a corrupted Gem, by any chance?”</p>
<p>The Bismuth starts, rainbow hair shifting. “Oh, sorry, I’m kinda in the middle of -” Then she squints. “Wait a minute. Ain’t you the little bug that tried to kill Steven?”</p>
<p>“Well -” She quickly clasps her hands in front of her, trying to project innocence. “That may be, but I’ve moved on!” She places a hand on her heart. “You see, I crash-landed on an island for a while and have done some thinking. I’m turning over a new leaf.” Oh dear. Why does she sound so guilty?</p>
<p><em>Nice going, Aquamarine! That was </em>your <em>tone we just used.</em></p>
<p><em>Why is it </em>my <em>fault? You’re the one trying to pose us to look all innocent! We aren’t even lying!</em></p>
<p><em>Okay, in my defense, neither of us have much experience being honest about… </em>good <em>things. I’m trying my best, okay?</em></p>
<p>“Hmph.” The Bismuth snorts. “Like I’d believe that.” She gently sets her piles of wooden planks down on the ground. In startling juxtaposition, her massive fist shoots out and grips the back of Bluebird’s shirt, lifting her into the air.</p>
<p>Oh no.</p>
<p>Involuntarily, Bluebird’s legs begin to kick wildly, unable to make purchase with the ground. Her hand itches to pull out a cutlass or chisel and bite the blade into this Bismuth’s wrist. A memory flashes that only one of them understands - a different imposing Bismuth rebel, crushing her form until it dissipates into the dirt of an Earthen battlefield. Images swim to the surface. Suddenly there is a foot instead of a hand on her, and Little Homeworld muddies away into a backdrop of barren, war-torn dirt.</p>
<p>
  <em>What is this? Ruby?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ruby?</em>
</p>
<p>Aquamarine holds on. Bluebird clenches her sharp teeth. Her one eye shuts tightly, Aquamarine holding on tight to Ruby, and the memories ebb.</p>
<p>Bluebird’s eye blinks open. The Bismuth holding her is talking.</p>
<p>“...not sure what you think you’re planning this time ‘round,” she is saying, but then she stops, searching Bluebird’s face for something. “Did you hear me?”</p>
<p>“Of course I did!” Bluebird tries, but her toothy smile immediately drops. “...Not.”</p>
<p>Bismuth huffs and returns Bluebird to the ground. She kneels to reach eye-level with Bluebird. “You alright, ya little terror?”</p>
<p>What’s this Bismuth’s angle? First terrorizing her, now asking her <em>that? </em>She rubs at her throat, where her collar had dug into her. “Why wouldn’t I be? I just want to report a corruption. There was an Amethyst on the island I spent some time at. I can give direct coordinates.” Aquamarine, while being blessed with a perfect memory, doesn’t give a single care about coordinate systems. Thankfully, Ruby does.</p>
<p>“Hmm.” The Bismuth seems to contemplate this. “And how do I know that there isn’t some sorta counter-Era-3 ambush waiting for our crew when they get there?”</p>
<p>Sure, Bluebird possesses skills of strategy and coercion, but who in the world would be willing to enlist in such a cause? The new status quo, she realizes, is making Gems content and even happy. And maybe she can be content in it too. “I assure you, there is no such thing.”</p>
<p>“And if there is?”</p>
<p>“Well…” She flashes a daring, fanged smile. “Then you can shatter me.”</p>
<p>“Huh.” The Bismuth laughs. “Either you’re pretty confident in your little counter-Rebellion, or you’re tellin’ the truth. I’ll walk you over to the report counter, how about that?”</p>
<p>“Oh, wonderful. Um. Thank you,” she chirps, not without difficulty.</p>
<p>They duck into the base floor of a tall building. The ground room houses an information desk rife with pamphlets and sticky notes. Manning the desk is a gold-flecked Lapis with a ponytail, who finds herself arguing with a hulking Jasper whose silver-white mane falls in tufts around two corruption horns, one broken.</p>
<p><em>The </em>Jasper.</p>
<p>Ruby tugs away from their fusion, and Bluebird splits.</p>
<p>“What the heck, Ruby?” Aquamarine shouts, but her fusion partner is already bounding over to the terrifying soldier.</p>
<p>“Jasper Facet-9F5B Cut-7XJ?” She says hopefully.</p>
<p>The Jasper turns her stony face to look down at Ruby. “Who’re you?” She’s tall, imposing, strong. A wall of war. Looking at her now, that Crystal Gem Amethyst’s facsimile didn’t even do this Jasper justice. The true thing is brimming with power. And more than that, this Jasper isn’t exactly like the one of legend - she’s cut, changed, new in places. Her uniform bears slits at the knees and a generic dull orange design that honors no Diamond.</p>
<p>“Oh -” Ruby rubs her neck. “Nobody. I mean, Ruby-1F4 Cut-4ND - I’m a long-time fan of yours, 7XJ.”</p>
<p>“Just Jasper,” the Jasper growls.</p>
<p>“Heard and acknowledged.” Ruby shoots off a quick, firm salute. “I just wanted to say, I was there for the War, and at the time, you were an inspiration for all of us, warriors and mere foot soldiers alike.” The universe is now a different realm entirely than the time when Jasper’s prowess was praised, but Ruby can still see the brilliance in this Jasper’s cut.</p>
<p>Aquamarine steps forward to drag Ruby away from this distraction, but Bismuth stops her with a hand on her shoulder.</p>
<p>“Why?” Jasper responds, reaching out with one large hand to grasp a pamphlet that the Lapis gives her.</p>
<p>“Why?!” Ruby’s hands ball into fists. “You gave us hope in a violent war. You’re the strongest of them all!”</p>
<p>“I’m just what a warrior is <em>supposed </em>to be.” Something shadows her face as she looks down at the shiny papers in her hand. “<em>Was</em> supposed to be.”</p>
<p>How do you comfort an idol? Ruby falters. “I - I know. Everything’s different now. I’m sorry about your Diamond. I was there, I saw her fall. And -” she laughs uncomfortably. “Yeah, she was Rose in the end, but it still <em>hurt!</em>” And it still can, even after Era 3 and no more Empire and no more structure.</p>
<p>“My Diamond still lives.”</p>
<p>“Her memory is inside us. I get it,” Ruby empathizes. “The system collapsing - I’m strugglin’ with it too.” Carefully, she ventures, “A lot has changed.” She and Jasper are similar, aren’t they? Soldiers of a war that’s ended, of a conquest that’s been retracted.</p>
<p>“No. I still have a Diamond to serve. Steven Universe is my Diamond.”</p>
<p>“W-What?” That… doesn’t sound right. Ruby reaches out to her arm, trying to - stars, maybe comfort her. Comfort the perfect Jasper. The thought almost makes her laugh.</p>
<p>“Don’t touch me.” Jasper’s sturdy hand smacks Ruby away, the weight behind it sending her skidding and tumbling across the floor.</p>
<p>The freckle-faced Lapis sends a desperate look to Bismuth, and pleads to Jasper, “Please, don’t have another fight in the information hall.”</p>
<p>“Hey!” Aquamarine snaps. “Don’t hit her!”</p>
<p>Jasper turns just in time to catch an icicle spear whose trajectory would’ve buried it inside her shoulder. The thing is deady, but in Jasper’s hands it’s a mere toy stopped by simply holding up one hand. She examines the thin, sharp ice projectile between her fingers. For a moment, Ruby’s worried that she’ll kick Aqua to space, but she just grumbles out, “What is this?”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Aquamarine is staring at her own hands with a starry-eyed wonder.</p>
<p>Ruby rubs her eye and stands, dusting herself off. “Wow, Jasper, you have - quite the strength there,” she chuckles uncomfortably, not sure if she should be honored to be hit by Jasper. She certainly would have been, once. Hell, palling around with her old platoon was usually physical - pushing, shoving, punching. That had actually been fun, been bonding and reminiscent of the comradery of war. But this smack is different, somehow. According to prior experience, this shouldn’t bother her too much, but… jeez. Should she be smiling or not?</p>
<p>“Jasper, you know what happened last time you started pickin’ fights in here,” Bismuth chides. She silently jerks her head to the door.</p>
<p>“Ugh. Fine.” Jasper brashly crosses the tiled floor and holds up a dismissive hand as she exits, her distinctive silhouette disappearing into the plaza. She’s gone.</p>
<p>If Ruby were that Bismuth - a Bismuth who seemed to be, if not high-ranking in the new Era, at least some type of respected leader - she would be angry that a Gem tested her nerves. However, Bismuth’s eyes were kind. She shook her head sadly. “That poor Gem. Still so much turmoil inside her. I’m not sure if Little Homeschool’s classes are even gonna help.”</p>
<p>Put that way, Jasper is… sad.</p>
<p>Ruby swallows. “Wow.”</p>
<p>Hold on a minute. Did she see what she thought she saw?</p>
<p>Okay. First things first. Ruby rushes up to the flustered Lapis at the counter. “Do you have somethin’ I can write on? I need to report directions to a corrupted Gem.” Wordlessly, the Lapis hands her a small sheet of paper and a pen. Ruby scribbles Gem Glyph in tight, neat, quick lines, detailing the Amethyst’s coordinates as well as broad strokes about the island’s topography. “Submitted.”</p>
<p>The second that the report is in the Lapis’ hands, Ruby rushes over to Aquamarine, practically bowling her over in her excitement. “You can deploy ice? Aquamarines can do that?!”</p>
<p>“Ha, no Aquamarine that I’ve met!” Aqua’s face is blushing a giddy darker blue. Her wand had been the only weapon afforded to her cut and make during the Era of depletion. Apparently an Era of scraping by with stunted technicians and dud beryls doesn’t necessarily spell incapability.</p>
<p>“Wow, that’s impressive.” Ruby whistles. “Show me again!”</p>
<p>Aquamarine concentrates. Nothing shoots out of her hand but a puff of icy air. She examines her defective fingers with a slight frown. “How… embarrassing.”</p>
<p>“Hey, I wouldn’t call that embarrassing.” Both Aquamarine and Ruby look up to the towering Bismuth beside them, who continues. “Looks like you just need practice. I’ve got a friend just like you. An Era 2 cut. Lost her limb enhancers, but pretty soon found out she could move metal around instead.” She shrugs her broad shoulders. “Nothin’ a little learnin’ can’t fix.”</p>
<p>Ruby squints up at Bismuth’s open face. “Why are you telling us this?”</p>
<p>“Eh, from what I’ve seen, I think you two aren’t actually much of a threat,” she smirks.</p>
<p>Aquamarine huffs in indignation. “Not much of a threat?!”</p>
<p>Ruby holds her back while Bismuth laughs, and the Lapis at the counter plants her face in her hands.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bismuth deals with aftermath and Bluebird is persistent.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A little change of pace - this chapter is in Bismuth's POV!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the end, Bismuth’s project is put on pause, building materials left abandoned on the ground. She originally assumes that the Gems present on the beach can handle that poor corrupted beast - it seemed far from Little Homeworld, and when had the Crystal Gems needed more than three members present to take down anything besides an army or a Diamond?</p><p>She is wrong.</p><p>Cursing herself for getting distracted with Bluebird, she joins up with Lapis and Peridot. The corrupted Gem is even bigger than she looked to have been before. She’s angrier and more confused, growling and crying.</p><p>When they warp in, they see that the beach house is <em>destroyed</em>.</p><p>Not entirely, not irreparably, but the hole in its side is wide and gaping. <em>Stars</em>. Bismuth had hoped that the corrupted Gem attack wouldn’t have strayed too close to the house. She had been proud of her work on Steven’s room in particular. <em>Well, hopefully this is just an opportunity to build it back even better than before.</em></p><p>And then Garnet tells them not to attack. She tells them that the pink monster thrashing about is <em>Steven.</em></p><p>Bismuth’s jaw tightens. <em>We’re coming, Steven.</em></p><hr/><p>All the Crystal Gems insist on staying at the Temple that night. Steven might’ve protested if he had the energy to do much more than lean on Lion and huddle into his blankets. Connie’s mother had been by earlier to give him a short checkup, but otherwise it was just Connie, Greg, the Gems, and a sleepy, exhausted Steven.</p><p>While Garnet and Greg keep an eye on Steven on the couch (quietly, and at a distance as not to crowd him) Bismuth enlists the help of Lapis and Peridot to stretch tarps over the splintered hole in the side of the beach house. It’s not perfect, but they don’t want anything flying in here, and any other measures to fix the hole would be way too loud for what Steven needs right now. Greg is silently crying and Pearl is rigid as stone.</p><p>Bismuth secures the bottom of another tarp and wipes her brow. She’ll have a lot of restoration to do.</p><hr/><p>It takes a few days before Bismuth concedes vigil over Steven. Like the rest of them, she’s loath to leave, but Garnet’s assurance of an action plan for Steven’s health convinces Bismuth that he doesn’t need the constant watch.</p><p>She stumbles tiredly onto Little Homeworld brick and soil. Maybe she should try sleep for once, before she has to coordinate a team to repair the beach house. Pearl told her to hold off for a few more days, just to give them some time, but that doesn’t mean Bismuth can’t turn the task over in her mind.</p><p>“Take a day to yourself before you put anything together,” Garnet had told her, one hand on her shoulder. “We’ll still be here when you’re recharged.”</p><p>She supposes that’s true. Hands itching to build something, even if it’s not the front of the beach house, she steps into the quiet main plaza. Not many Gems are about. Looks like they’re a bit scarce after recent events.</p><p>Huh. Her materials are still resting on the cobblestone, pushed up flush against the Info Center. Right. She really had been doing something before this all happened.</p><p>Might as well finish that project up, give herself some time, and then return to the beach house project with new eyes.</p><p>She bends down and scoops up the forgotten pile. Typically a day of rest would mean a day without labor, but that’s not Bismuth’s idea of relaxation. Building can be cathartic and restful depending on the circumstances. This side project would give her mind some time to wind down.</p><p>“Hey again!”</p><p>Is that - it’s that one-eyed Ruby and her unusual partner. Because of course it is. Bismuth swings around. The little Gems look nervous, but chipper. “Uh, hey, squirts. What do you want?”</p><p>To be honest, Bismuth isn’t really sure what to make of these two.</p><p>The Ruby, she’s familiar with <em>that </em>type of Gem. An old soldier that’s seen too much solely because she’s somehow avoided shattering. Bismuth was an architect, not a fighter, but she remembers a few Crystal Gems - Quartzes and Jaspers - that needed some rehabilitating when they had first joined the ranks of the rebellion. In the end, Bismuth is old enough to have seen plenty of soldiers on both sides, and feel sorry for them all, including herself. A war is never something to celebrate. Bismuth may have come up with violent solutions, but not because she particularly <em>wanted </em>things to end that way. She just felt that they needed to.</p><p>In any case, Bismuth can see familiarity in this one-eyed Ruby. The Aquamarine, though, is another story. It’s not like Bismuth would’ve ever been at a ball or function, or been subject to an Aquamarine’s discretion, so her first introduction to that Gem type was through Little Homeworld’s residents list. In her Gem, though, she does know what they are: administrators to lower ranks and assistants to the highest ranks. However, she could’ve sworn that they were supposed to be a bit taller. Era 2 would do that to you. What this Aquamarine lacks in height, she more than makes up for in the type of upper-crust snobbishness that sets Bismuth’s form boiling. But she’s trying, and this <em>is </em>Little Homeworld.</p><p>“We’re not… really sure?” The Aquamarine shrugs. The Ruby seems to bristle at an admission of weakness, but she doesn’t deny it.</p><p>“Uh, okay. If that's the case, I need to go. The Info Center’s right there if you need anything.”</p><p>The two little beasts watch her heft her building materials all onto one shoulder and turn in the direction of her construction site. Little pattering footsteps follow hers across the main clearing.</p><p>Oh, great. She turns back around. The Ruby is stark at attention and the Aquamarine almost trips on a jutting stone when she stops. “Are you two <em>following </em>me?” She would be less curt, but it’s been a harrowing few days for her and the people she cares about.</p><p>“Um.”</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>The Ruby places a worried hand on the Aquamarine’s shoulder, and in a flash of light, Bluebird Azurite returns.</p><p>“Forgive me,” her accented voice implores. “You just seem to know what you’re doing.”</p><p>Bismuth raises an eyebrow. “So does almost anyone you’ll talk to here.”</p><p>“I don’t want to have to explain myself again just yet, in case there’s bad reactions. The Gems and organics here seem to be particularly attached to the… to Steven.”</p><p>Bismuth’s face softens sadly. She hums. “And rightfully so. He made all this possible. I think he might be the hardest worker I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen Bismuths erect spires in under an hour.” He's too hard of a worker, if you ask her.</p><p>“Yes. We - <em>I </em>should have seen that before. He’s the main driving force for direction and coordination in Era 3.” She quiets with a surprisingly respectful dip of her head. “And for that I am thankful. Without him, this would be an even bigger mess than it feels it is.”</p><p>“Maybe sometime you should tell him that. That’s a new sentiment from you.” Everyone should’ve been more appreciative, more tuned-in to him. The past is the past, though, and all any of them can do now is focus on being better. Being there for him.</p><p>“It is.” Her pointed teeth show in a hesitant smile. “I told you I’ve been doing some thinking recently.”</p><p>“Okay, I think I believe you on that one.” Bismuth almost smiles back.</p><p>Bluebird looks from side to side. “Is Steven around now? I can -”</p><p>“No.” She fervently shakes her head, with no room to argue. “He’s gonna need some space. Maybe for a long time. I don’t think you showing up would be good right now. And again, last time you were alone with him -”</p><p>“I’ve made some mistakes, yes.” She bites her lip. “What - did something happen to him?”</p><p>“It’s not my place to say.” Bismuth shifts the bundle of materials digging into her skin. “Anyways. I really gotta go.” She wants nothing more than to sink her teeth into a project for a few hours. “If you need any help I’m gonna have to give it later.”</p><p>“Later? But -” Bluebird stops herself, looking like she was about to say something unbecoming. “I… understand. Can I at least accompany you to wherever you’re going? I want to know what you’re doing with those.” She points at the items piled up on Bismuth’s shoulder.</p><p>This little fusion is stuck on her like a tick. “I mean, if you want to? It’s probably not all that interesting. You sure you don’t have anywhere to be?”</p><p>Regrettably, that makes the fusion shrink in on herself. “I don’t really want to go back to that island.”</p><p>“What’ve you even been up to the past few days?”</p><p>Bluebird shrugs. “Flying around. Talking to Gems. I ate food once.”</p><p>There’s no way she has a place to stay, Bismuth ponders. And it’d be better to know where she is instead of continuing to let her run off on her own. Bismuth frowns. “Okay, hey, you don’t have to go back to that island. I guess there’s nothing wrong with some company on the job. But I’ll be keeping an eye on you, got it?”</p><p>Bluebird nods obediently, keeping her hands clasped behind her. “You won’t even know I’m there.”</p><hr/><p>Bismuth is painfully aware of Bluebird’s presence.</p><p>She steadies another roof tile to the oh-so-wonderful sound of Bluebird’s chatter. This building’s going to be some more housing for former Homeworld Gems… if the little insect down on the ground shuts up for long enough to let Bismuth finish it. Sometimes there’s a whole crew at work, sometimes not; she’s found that solo work can be calming. Meditative, when she needs it. When she puts down roofs tile by tile her head has space to think and process. Well, it usually does.</p><p>“What in the stars is this for?” Crashing and clinking follows. “Oops. My apologies.”</p><p>The tiling will have to wait for a few minutes. She sighs, letting go of her hammer shape and wiping her forehead with the resulting hand. “What’re you getting up to over there?” She looks over. Bluebird’s fidgeting next to what used to be a not-insignificant pile of metal, parts now strewn about the dusty worksite. “You better put that back together.”</p><p>Briefly, Bluebird’s arms stutter in an angular fashion, then she wisely snaps them to her side. “On it!” She calls.</p><p>Bismuth laughs and shakes her head. She returns to her work, closing her hand around some rough tiling. “That better not have been the beginnings of a diamond salute I saw,” she calls down to her.</p><p>“As if I would ever give anyone that salute again,” is the response, which Bismuth can’t help but smile a bit at. Even tough little traditionalists can learn, can’t they? On the way here Bluebird had asked why no one reported anything to Steven, and Bismuth had explained that Steven was a kid and not a Diamond, and that was that.</p><p>He’s just a kid. Recently they were all painfully reminded of that.</p><p>Bismuth shrugs off her thoughts and tries to focus on the feeling of baked clay in her hands. “Bold. I like it, ‘Bird.”</p><p>She finally gets some real work done, since Bluebird’s made some time-consuming work for herself. Tiling isn’t Bismuth’s favorite - that’ll always be forging - but she finds accomplishment in completing buildings that she isn’t commanded to build. When she had defected, she vowed never to build for the Diamonds again. Never again would her hands be used to construct spiraling, crystalline structures that only served as memorials to status. Now she’s just building for those that truly need a space to call their own. And that’s worth the roofing trouble.</p><p>Roofing finally done, Bismuth gathers up her materials off the roof and jumps down to the ground, landing heavy in the dirt. The house is almost done. It just needs a few extra reinforcements and aesthetic touches. She steps back with a gentle smile, one that feels needed and earned. She’s getting good at these little structures. The sun is dipping low in the sky. All things considered, it was a productive shift.</p><p>“That looks impressive.”</p><p>Bismuth blinks at the one-eyed Ruby. “Oh. You’re here. Where’s the other one?”</p><p>“We split up.” She jabs a thumb over her shoulder, where Aquamarine can be seen flying over one of the last pieces of wayward metal and dropping it onto a new pile. “Gets the job done faster.”</p><p>“Oh. Makes sense.”</p><p>“You’d think so, but we actually wasted some time. I had to convince Aqua to ignore how ‘dirty’ the metal was before she would touch it.” It’s a bit hard to tell, but Ruby looks to be rolling her eye, a touch of fondness peeking through the annoyance.</p><p>“Really?” Bismuth barks out a laugh. “Very Pearl-like of her.”</p><p>Ruby’s eye narrows. “Is that an insult?”</p><p>“Oh, <em>absolutely </em>not. Bein’ a Pearl isn’t an insult. In fact, the Pearl I’m thinking of is the sturdiest Gem I know.”</p><p>“Oh. My bad for assuming what you meant. It is a new Era, after all.”</p><p>Bismuth leans down and surprises her with a solid clap on her back. “No worries, short stuff. Pearl’s actually a legend with machinery now, but back when we first met, it was a challenge to get her to touch anything that was even remotely cold. If it was wet or had rust on it, forget it.”</p><p>“Huh. She must’ve changed a lot.”</p><p>Bismuth softens, bittersweet. “She sure did.”</p><p>The sun begins to fall below the treeline, casting long shadows before its rest.</p><p>“Why’re you being all nice to us?” Ruby says, looking out to the near-finished house and beyond, to the line of trees marking the beginning of a forest.</p><p>“I consider myself a good judge of character,” she explains. “And, well… I think I know how you two feel.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Ruby responds, still a bit suspicious.</p><p>“Yeah. Wanting a second chance, even if you feel like you don’t deserve it.” That strikes Ruby, if her stiff posture is anything to go by. Bismuth just continues. “And it’s been thousands of years, but I remember bein’ a new Rebel. Maybe I was more enthusiastic than you two,” she chuckles, “but I get it. Change is scary, even if it’s just taking on an unfamiliar assignment - nevermind suddenly getting rid of assignments altogether.”</p><p>Everything’s so quiet for a minute that Bismuth assumes she won’t get a response. Understandable, but eventually Ruby looks away with a silent shame. “Everything’s so different.”</p><p>“I’m sure it is,” Bismuth says. “We have classes for that, you know.”</p><p>As the sun glints a burning orange against Ruby’s gem, she crosses her arms, effectively ending that conversation. Oh well. That’s a better talk than Bismuth expected to have with her. Ruby redirects. “You don’t gotta be a Bismuth to work on these buildings, do you?”</p><p>“‘Course not. Why?”</p><p>Ruby opens her mouth to answer, but the sound of Aquamarine’s high tone stops her.</p><p>“I’m done!” Aqua singsongs, fluttering over to them. “The pile is complete. I’m sincerely sorry about that, by the way. As Bluebird sometimes we get… carried away.” She flushes.</p><p>“Wow,” Ruby exaggerates. “A genuine apology from Aquamarine? She must like you.” Ruby elbows Bismuth’s side, finally cracking a smile. “It took me a year to get one from her,” she whispers.</p><p>Bismuth smirks. “Really? Somehow I’m not surprised.”</p><p>Ruby’s smile is wiped off her face at the shock of Aquamarine’s extremely icy hand on her shoulder. She smacks the small white hand off. “Hey!”</p><p>“That’s what you get for being rude to me,” Aquamarine says haughtily. She breaks character with an ill-contained laugh. Ruby sticks her tongue out at her, and she returns the gesture. These two Gems are so childish in their own way. On one hand, they clearly still have some growing up to do. On the other, Bismuth can see them acting like this until the end of time.</p><p>“Alright, break it up,” Bismuth interrupts. “I’ll go see about registering you for temporary housing, how about that?”</p><p>“Why would we need that?” Ruby immediately objects.</p><p>“Why <em>wouldn’t</em> we need that?” Aquamarine counters. She and her fusion partner lock eyes for just a moment, before Ruby seems to concede defeat. “We’d love assistance with housing,” Aquamarine articulates politely.</p><p>The Ruby beside her shrugs. “Yeah. What she said.”</p><p>“Alright!” Bismuth claps her hands together. She scoops up the items that she had brought down from the roof. There’s a little more strength in her now, a little less clutter and hurt. Working on this side project really seemed to help. “Back to the info desk it is.”</p><hr/><p>Some advice is in order for Bismuth to move forward. Bluebird - or rather, her components - are set up in a secure temporary apartment for now, one of the ones with an alarm and a sorting system for any item that passes the apartment’s parameters. They aren't the first Gems to ever need to be watched on Little Homeworld, though every Gem that's stayed in those apartments so far turned out to adjust well in the end.</p><p>As Bismuth takes the beach route to the Temple, the sky settles into darkness and sparkling stars. Maybe Garnet would have advice on whether or not Bismuth should vouch for permanent housing for Bluebird’s Gems, if they want it. If they’re serious about reform, the more the merrier! But if not…</p><p>Everyone's feeling very protective of Steven, as of late.</p><p>The Temple and its cradled home rises into view. Sand shifts beneath her feet as she slows to a stop. Garnet’s already there, of course, sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Bismuth takes a heavy seat next to her. For a moment, they don’t say anything, and just watch the endless waves dragging in and out of the beach.</p><p>“How’s Steven?”</p><p>“Alright,” Garnet answers solemnly. “He’s eating again. And lots of it.”</p><p>“Makes sense.”</p><p>Garnet’s head dips in thought. “You can start a plan for the beach house now. Thank you for waiting.”</p><p>“You sure he’ll be okay with the noise?”</p><p>She nods. “We all talked. He wants the hole gone as soon as possible. I told him it might take a while, which he understands, so don’t worry about rushing it.”</p><p>“How could I not worry?” Bismuth laughs. “He wants it done, I’ll get it done. But I’ll take my time. No worries about a hack job.”</p><p>Garnet just smiles. She wraps an arm around Bismuth’s shoulders, and Bismuth leans into her old friend’s side. “And, by the way, there’ll be no issues with Bluebird staying at Little Homeworld permanently.”</p><p>“No?”</p><p>“No. But she is not allowed to come see Steven until he allows it. That might never happen, and she must accept that.”</p><p>Bismuth hums. “I’ll let her know.”</p><p>Garnet wordlessly drops her head to lean it against Bismuth’s shoulder. Garnet never asks for support these days, a far cry from her early days in the Rebellion, but Bismuth can still recognize such a thing when she sees it. She returns the gesture with her own arm around Garnet. When Garnet looks up, the dark, twinkling night sky reflects in her visor. She must have seen so many things that Bismuth didn’t after Rose bubbled her, and yet they can still come together like this.</p><p>Some things never change.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A tiny potted plant of some sort sits in Ruby’s hands. It’s not what she would originally think of when imagining Earth organics, especially after her stay in the tropics. The plants she had grown accustomed to are abundant, green, lush, with leaves that swoop or fan out. The one that had been allotted to her room (she had her own room?) is dome-shaped with tiny prickly spines poking out of it. It’s not reminiscent of any sort of flower and it doesn’t have any leaves.</p>
<p>“Hmm.” She puts it back on the windowsill.</p>
<p>The bedroom in temporary housing is quite barren. One window, a circular mattress with various pillows, and Ruby’s “cactus”. Ruby’s never really owned anything before. It feels excessive. Still, this is a temporary situation anyways. Not like she’ll get to keep any of this. And why is there a bed here? For lounging? Do some Gems like to sleep? Ruby has never slept.</p>
<p>The sky outside the window is dark. Based on Ruby’s mental clock, this planet is halfway through its night cycle. Everything gets much quieter on Earth when it gets dark.</p>
<p>Her room is a big space to have all to herself. She doesn’t know common “bedroom” dimensions, but she can lie down flat in here without the threat of being stepped on by someone else, which already makes it big. She’s used to downtime being spent shoved in a holding room with hundreds of others of her.</p>
<p>Well, they’re not identical. Hundreds of other <em>Rubies</em>.</p>
<p>There’s too much space. Ruby exits the room. After a moment’s thought, she returns for just a second to grab the spiky potted plant.</p>
<p>The common room between her and Aquamarine’s rooms is minimalist too, with one window and a long cushion set into it. There’s a sturdy side-table holding a few pamphlets about options at Little Homeschool. A soft plush rug is too squishy under Ruby’s boots. She sits down on the rug, faces the door, and cradles the plant in her lap. Her warm fingers curl almost gingerly around the pot.</p>
<p>Two hours later, she hears a door sliding open and shut to her left. She can easily pick out Aqua’s tiny footsteps. Her fusion partner stops a few units away from her and sits down. “I tried to... ‘sleep’,” she says quietly, “but I’m not quite used to having nothing to do.”</p>
<p>“Me neither.”</p>
<p>“You brought your plant out here?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Ruby confirms with an edge to her. If Aqua asks her to explain herself, she’s not sure if she can.</p>
<p>Thankfully, Aquamarine just scoots a little closer and rests a hand on Ruby’s knee. Ruby’s just watching the door, so Aqua does that too. A warm glow envelopes them both into Bluebird, but it isn’t really a surprise despite how seamless it is. Bluebird keeps her one eye on the door, taking care to hold Ruby’s cactus in two stiff hands. She’s not sure what to do. Mostly, she’s just confused and a little bit lost.</p>
<p>Maybe she doesn’t have to watch the door. Part of her wants to anyway, but after a moment’s thought she just turns her back to it and steps over to the cushioned seat by the window. She’ll trust that the Gems of Little Homeworld won’t ambush her. The deep, padded windowsill is soft beneath her, and she feels tired for once - she pushes the cactus further in on the sill and curls up on the cushion.</p>
<p>For the first time, Bluebird sleeps.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bluebird stands on a little meteoroid. This is unusual, because she’s never been stationed to such a small area before. Only technicians and miners have - but the Authority is dead, Bluebird would be shattered for existing if it weren’t, so why is she here?</p>
<p>What is her purpose?</p>
<p><em>Clunk</em>.</p>
<p>A meteoroid smacks into her own, sending it off-kilter. This would be fine, except Bluebird is knocked off-kilter as well. Oh. Her feet are leaving the meteorite. Her wings aren’t summoning. Her weapon isn’t summoning.</p>
<p>Before she knows it, she’s floating out into the vast reach of space. It’s cold, awfully cold, even for her components’ self-regulatory temperatures. She doesn’t want to float through space again. Again?</p>
<p>Suddenly, Blue Diamond’s head rises up out of the blackness, even larger than life. “Bluebird Azurite,” she admonishes, her deep eyes cold and disappointed. “What are you doing?” If Bluebird squints, she can make out little Aquamarines fussing over their Diamond. Without Bluebird.</p>
<p>Why is Blue Diamond so upset with her? She does her duties just fine, she always manages to finish on time and often with a better success rate than other -</p>
<p>“Ah -” Bluebird only barely resists saluting. There’s no real answer to the Diamond’s question since she’s just floating around aimlessly. It’s not like she has commands anymore. “Jus’ being here, really.”</p>
<p>“Hmm.” Her Brilliance does not look pleased. “I thought I had assigned you to that meteoroid.”</p>
<p>Bluebird glances around, spotting the tiny pebble soaring off through the stars and disappearing. “To do what?”</p>
<p>“Isn’t it obvious?”</p>
<p>What? Of course it’s not obvious. No one told her! Space is cold. Bluebird doesn’t want to be here anymore.</p>
<p>Blue shakes her head, her substantial hair swaying along. “I can’t deal with this. I’ll have Yellow decide what to do with you.” With a poke of her huge fingertip, she sends Bluebird twirling around in the opposite direction. Emerging out of the dark vacuum of space is Yellow Diamond, her eyes sharp and uncaring.</p>
<p>“Hmph,” Yellow complains. “Always making me do the dirty work.” And with that she wraps her massive taloned fingers around Bluebird’s tiny body, clutching her closer, tight, tighter -</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bluebird’s eye flies open.</p>
<p>Sunlight shines through the window. Her skin feeds on it hungrily, as if she had been locked in a dark room for days. What in the celestial galaxies was <em>that?</em> Do these things always happen when one sleeps?</p>
<p>She hates it, hates the way the fear and uncertainty of that… ‘experience’ lingers. She clutches her own arms. <em>Are you okay? Yeah, are you okay?</em></p>
<p>When she leaves her housing unit, it’s mostly to run away from the chill of space that keeps chasing her.</p>
<p>That Bismuth is nowhere to be found. Unfortunately Bluebird finds herself missing her. She doesn’t truly know anyone else here; her first arrival consisted of social activities, yes, but only to trick the Crystal Gems into softening up. Following the only familiarity she has, she ends up back at the information center.</p>
<p>That freckled Lapis is at the counter again.</p>
<p>“Hello,” Bluebird starts.</p>
<p>“Oh, hi.” The Lapis peers around, probably to make sure that there’s no one like Jasper nearby this time. “How can I help you?”</p>
<p>“Ah, I can get information here, right?”</p>
<p>The Lapis glances up at the English and Gem Glyph sign above her head that reads ‘Information Center’. She cracks a smile. “I sure hope so.”</p>
<p>“Oh, good, I just have a question. When Gems… ‘sleep’... do they see visions? I slept for the first time and I thought only Sapphires could see events.” Although that vision was a very jumbled and twisted turn of events, one that seems to be slipping fast from Bluebird even as she tries to explain herself.</p>
<p>“Oh! I have a pamphlet for that.” Lapis reaches under her desk and pulls out a bilingual pamphlet titled <em>Do Gems Need Sleep? And Other Form Customs on Earth</em>. She slides it across the counter to the short Gem on the other side. “You were just having a dream. It wasn’t real.”</p>
<p>Oh thank the stars, that was just… whatever a dream is. She flips the pamphlet open and quickly locates the section on dreams, absorbing the information quickly. A mental fiction that she had formed from vestiges of fact during rest, nothing more. Though the ‘dream’ still left her uneasy.</p>
<p>“Hmm. Thanks, love.” Gratitude is becoming easier for Bluebird to say. <em>What’s happening to me?</em> She thinks, almost amused. She rubs her thumb across the glossy cover of the pamphlet and an idea strikes her. “You wouldn’t know how to register for this school thing, would you?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“If you opt for a full class schedule, there’s the option of general education alongside your specialized courses.” The de-corrupted Lace Amethyst types away at her tablet as natively as a Peridot would. Her smooth and careful motions are not ones of a former Quartz soldier. Bluebird tries not to stare at the purple horns emerging from her dark swooping hair and wonders how that corrupted Amethyst is doing.</p>
<p>Bluebird is not much one for being confused, and has to fight to keep a certain snarkiness out of her tone when she asks, “What does that mean?”</p>
<p>“Well, the general education courses are there to help you acclimate to Era 3. These include acclimation courses for Earth, purpose-finding courses, and a course about recent history, to help Gems understand why everything’s so different now.” She turns away from her screen to give Bluebird a big grin. “Are you looking for that, or for something more specific?”</p>
<p>As if Bluebird has any idea what she’s doing. She’s just here to… be a Rebel. To change, since everything’s been moving on without her. ‘General education’ seems like her best bet. “I would like that very much.”</p>
<p>A few taps on her tablet. “Okay, and any extracurriculars?”</p>
<p>“Erm… Like what?”</p>
<p>“Like art, math, tech… anything you want, really.”</p>
<p>Bluebird pauses when two warring wishes rise within her. “Must I attend all my classes as… as myself?”</p>
<p>“As a fusion?” The Amethyst gently shakes her head. “Not if you don’t want to. You will be put down in attendance records as Bluebird Azurite, but your instructors will know about your components. Both of your components should attend classes that you are signed up for, even if you don’t want to be fused at the moment, but we would never make you fuse for a course.”</p>
<p>It will all be by her own rules, her own will. “I understand. Thanks for clarifying.” She still isn’t used to the way fusion is a casual topic, one that’s even treated with respect. “Could Ruby and Aquamarine sign up for different extracurriculars?”</p>
<p>The Amethyst smiles warmly. “Of course! If they can’t be here now to go over the course list, we can always finish this later.”</p>
<p>This is how Ruby finds herself signing up for a few courses on construction and architecture. At Aqua’s questioning glance, she explains that watching Bismuth work gave her the idea.</p>
<p>“I think I… wanna try building stuff,” Ruby grumbles, looking down at her hands.</p>
<p>Aquamarine can tell she’s nervous, so she just assures, “I would say that it is a good idea to put those in your schedule, then.”</p>
<p>And what’s in store for Aquamarine? She listlessly signs up for this thing called ‘art,’ her only memories of which are reverent murals and sculptures. She rankles at making anything mural-like - artists were a lower class on Homeworld - but regardless puts herself down for figure drawing. At Ruby’s suggestion, she also schedules herself for pottery and ice-carving. They’re the only options that spark interest, and she tries not to show how aimless she is.</p>
<p>“Should be... ‘fun’,” Ruby remarks kindly at Aqua’s choices, which is nice, at least.</p>
<p>They’re heading back to their housing unit with a few papers and pamphlets in hand when Ruby slows to a stop. “Hey, Aqua.”</p>
<p>Aqua’s dress swishes when she stops too. “Yes?”</p>
<p>“Is it alright that we’re taking some stuff separately?”</p>
<p>She blinks. “Did you - do you want to go to <em>all </em>the classes separated?” That isn’t the original plan, but it’s not like she can force Ruby to be part of Bluebird. Maybe they should have talked about this instead of just walking in and doing the whole registration process fused. Of course Ruby would want some time away from Aquamarine, they’ve been stuck at the hip for ages. She should’ve seen it coming.</p>
<p>“No.” Ruby fervently shakes her head, struggling to say something. “I’d rather do most of this with you.” It comes out strangled from nerves. She’s looking away, clutching her paperwork too intensely. “But I just wanna make sure it’s fine if we don’t do <em>all</em> of it together. We gotta be on the same page.”</p>
<p>“I-I agree. You make sense.” She considers her words. “I’m - we’ll be okay separating to do our own things. But yes, I also want to do this with you. In the end, I don’t think that Bluebird excitedly signing up for all her own classes was something I would call a ‘bad sign.’”</p>
<p>“Okay, you don’t gotta be snarky, I’m tryin’ to be all nice here,” Ruby says flatly, but her eye holds in laughter. “So it’s okay?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine swallows the apprehension of being apart from Ruby. Since when were they dependent? Since when did Aquamarine need someone around to function? “Yes, it’s just fine. Stop worrying so much.” She sticks out her tongue, and Ruby returns the gesture, and they return to their apartment in what seems to be high spirits.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Rubies are small. They’re meant to combine into bigger guards when necessary, but otherwise they’re mere grunts. Foot soldiers. Strong, but not as strong as legendary Quartzes. Ruby traces one palm with the pointer finger of her other hand. Could she really do what that Bismuth did out there? Tiling roofs, constructing buildings?</p>
<p>It’s nice to do things with her hands. It would be even nicer for the result of those things to be long-standing and useful. During service, her hands were limited to maiming, blocking, ship-driving, saluting, and the few times where she had to set up a camp. She had always been fulfilled most by making, but she isn’t a making Gem. Well. Isn’t supposed to be.</p>
<p>A knock on her door.</p>
<p>She jumps down off her bed and slides the door open. “Something wrong?” She asks gruffly.</p>
<p>Aquamarine slips inside. “No, everything’s fine.” She brushes her hands down the front of her dress in rare self-consciousness. “However, I… don’t particularly like being alone in my room.”</p>
<p>Something in Ruby sags in relief. “I don’t like it either. It’s got too much space.”</p>
<p>“Were you going to sleep?”</p>
<p>“Nah. I don’t really like it that much.”</p>
<p>Together, they decide to take a walk around Little Homeworld, wandering under Earth’s stars.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sometime between forming a tactical alliance and finding herself sitting in front of a pottery wheel, it seems that Aquamarine has become accustomed to a certain Gem’s company. How upsetting.</p>
<p>She lifts her clay-caked hands to work the shape of her bowl into perfection and finds herself wishing Ruby were here. It’s not fun snarking at the other students’ poor attempts at sculpting without anyone to snark <em>to</em>. What was a Bixbite thinking, anyways, taking pottery? All her works are going to have claw-like indents in them. It’s foolish - what’s the point?</p>
<p>The Bixbite in question smiles down at her own lopsided, punctured clay bowl, perfectly content. She glances over at Aquamarine, who looks away quickly, thankful for her inexpressive blue complexion.</p>
<p>The instructor peers at each student’s progress, but not unkindly. A quartz glints in the place of one of her eyes, and a second quartz protrudes as her nose. The rainbowed mottle of her skin is pure saturation, but not the type of purity that any colony would aim to grow. It reminds Aquamarine of Bluebird’s spills of green and red.</p>
<p>“How’s it coming along?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine jumps in her seat, running cold. When did the instructor get all the way to her row?</p>
<p>Crazy Lace Agate’s peach curls burn bright against the morning sun. Her top-heavy form blocks light, throwing Aquamarine and her pottery wheel into stark shadow.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” Crazy Lace laughs, light and airy. “Just checking up on things.”</p>
<p>“Yes… I see.” She looks down at her bowl - she must have been lost in thought for a moment there - and is horrified at the sight.</p>
<p>How could it be so lopsided? How could the sides be so inconsistent in thickness? Aquamarine knows what a bowl looks like, has the image of one perfectly recalled in her mind. What got lost in translation?</p>
<p>“How come it ended up like <em>this</em>?” Aquamarine sneers at her own work. Usually something she produces is better than this.</p>
<p>“Hmm.” Crazy Lace kneels down to examine the bowl more closely. “This is actually a good first try! Everyone’s pottery is lopsided at first. You just have to try again. And making something is half the fun, even if it doesn’t turn out how you expect.” She stands up straight again, hands on her hips, with an unassuming smile. “Does that make sense?”</p>
<p>“Uh… yes?”</p>
<p>“Good!” And with that, Aquamarine watches the instructor skate away, wild mane bouncing along behind her.</p>
<p>So this is a common outcome. Nothing to worry about. She just has to do it again, right?</p><hr/>
<p>Aquamarine doesn’t usually have to try this hard to do something right.</p>
<p>The newest iteration of the bowl is being… difficult. She’s gotten the sides to be somewhat consistent, and her attempts have stopped collapsing due to thin walls, but now another problem is emerging. It’s not <em>symmetrical</em>. And it’s supposed to be symmetrical. Her pretty, pristine gloves are caked with dried bits of clay, and she shudders.</p>
<p>The end result is a lopsided, curving clay bowl with uniform thickness.</p>
<p>Sighing, she tosses the latest attempt onto the counter holding the others. It deflates slightly when it hits the table, wet clay bending. She pays it no mind as she slops more clay onto her pottery wheel. None of her attempts are something she would want to bring back to Ruby, something she would want to show off. Something that represents her capable nature. So she tries again.</p>
<p>A knock on the doorway of the pottery studio makes Aquamarine jump. Ice bursts involuntarily from her hands, freezing the latest fledgling attempt into a useless icy lump of clay.</p>
<p>This is all extremely embarrassing.</p>
<p>“Hello, Aquamarine.” Crazy Lace is at the doorway, with that same infuriatingly kind smile. One of her eyes is quartz and the other is hidden by poofs of hair; the inability to interpret Aquamarine’s new company makes her wary. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just came to clean up after class and didn’t realize someone was using the studio…” Crazy Lace skates forward slowly, pausing her movement by elegantly pressing the rubber stopper of her skate against the ground. She’s quietly surveying the scene before her.</p>
<p>“Hello, Crazy Lace.” Aquamarine can’t bring herself to be fake-polite now. She huffs at her popsicle of a project. “Don’t mind me, I am just… perfecting a few things.”</p>
<p>“....Huh. I see that.”</p>
<p>Instead of whatever Aquamarine expects - a chewing out, maybe a lamentation about Aqua’s waste of resources, or even just confusion about her actions - Crazy Lace comes closer to the lineup of failures sitting on the counter beside them. She touches the still-wet clay of some of them, and hefts a lopsided, wobbly bowl into her hands.</p>
<p>“You know,” she hums. “This’ll turn out to be a perfectly functional bowl.”</p>
<p>“Who cares if it’s functional!?” Aqua snaps. She makes an attempt to extricate the frozen clay from the wheel, to no avail. “Bowls are supposed to look a certain way. I’m supposed to be able to reproduce that look.” She mutters to herself, “It’s so simple, it’s not supposed to be a difficult task.”</p>
<p>A broad shadow falls across her horrible ice-clay creation, and she looks up. It’s Crazy Lace, holding a stupid-looking bowl with her blue and red hands. “This bowl might not be ‘perfect’ to you, Aquamarine,” she starts. And it isn’t; its walls are uneven, and its shape isn’t uniform. “But! Art isn’t about fulfilling a task. You might be able to picture a result that you don’t end up producing, but…” She grabs a few small clay carvers and drops them into the failed attempt at a bowl. “It still works. You can still proudly say that you created something that you put yourself into. This bowl isn’t a task you gotta complete for someone. It doesn’t have to be a certain way at all!”</p>
<p>But what if Aquamarine wants to complete it for someone?</p>
<p>What if that someone expects something from her, the way she expects something from herself? To be honest, she has never had many directives that required truly difficult work in order to complete. Not before now.</p>
<p>Aquamarine looks beyond Crazy Lace’s shoulders and frowns at the ditched attempts lining the wall.</p>
<p>“I…” For once, she is at a loss.</p>
<p>Crazy Lace puts down the wet bowl and places a hand on Aquamarine’s shoulder. “Come on, we’ll take these to the kiln team.” The kiln team consists of a Lapis who removes the remaining moisture from the clay, and a Bismuth who then fires the creation - supposedly a much faster process than a human-led operation. “They’re all perfectly fine bowls.”</p><hr/>
<p>“Oh, there you are,” Ruby says, almost to herself, when Aquamarine finally returns to their apartment. “I didn’t realize your, uh, ‘pottery’ course would be so long.”</p>
<p>Aqua’s fusion partner is looking over a pamphlet with the intensity that she had used to reserve for service and duty. Something in the sight warms Aquamarine. The first day of classes wasn’t supposed to be so… harrowing. Seeing Ruby is familiar.</p>
<p>When had Aquamarine become useless on her own?</p>
<p>Pushing through the doorway, Aquamarine grunts at the pile of unique and decidedly imperfect kilned bowls in her arms. She laughs off Ruby’s comment. “That <em>was </em>a long time, wasn’t it?” Even longer thanks to the vetting system at temporary housing, since every single foreign item has to be checked over by a guard… And then Aqua pauses. She sets the veritable mountain of bowls on the carpet, at a loss as to what to do with them. Then she truthfully amends, “Actually, my course was probably the same length as your carpentry course.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Then what -” Ruby finally turns away from her pamphlet, and sees the bowls. “Whoa. That pottery course is more intense than I expected.”</p>
<p>“It’s not, really. I was just… staying behind to improve on what I learned.”</p>
<p>“Um. You certainly made…” Ruby counts the pile’s contents. “Twelve bowls. That’s impressive.”</p>
<p>The pile taunts Aqua, rubbing her the wrong way. She wants to throw them all out the apartment window and watch them fall five stories to their rightful death. However, the windows in temporary lodging don’t open, so she just turns away from them to sit on the carpet beside her partner. “Nevermind about that. Ah… how was your first course?”</p>
<p>Something hidden deep within Ruby’s eye lights up, like the glow of a simmering ember. She smiles a rare smile down at her pamphlet. “It’s way different from Homeworld. Anyone can do carpentry, or construction, or architecture here.” She thumbs through the pamphlet, flipping past red warning icons and images of human-made tools. “I gotta admit, Earth is fascinating. We spent our entire first session going over Gem safety. Covering your Gem while working, and having someone else on-site while you work.” Something in her expression sours. “When imperial bases were being built on Earth, I saw more than a few Bismuths cracked and shattered by falling debris. Then they were just mixed into the construction rubble.”</p>
<p>“I will never give a Diamond salute again as long as I exist,” Aquamarine bites.</p>
<p>“Agreed.” Ruby puts the pamphlet down with a sigh, her hand resting on top of the glossy print. “It’s weird. Today’s class was so insistent about protection and protocol. Rubies are made for poofing, so I’ve never… cared about safety before.” Her jaw is tight, and she refuses to look at Aquamarine.</p>
<p>Aquamarine flashes back to the moment when Ruby poofed into red dust, and the dull thud of her gem on the grass, and the panic before and after. She aggressively grips Ruby’s shoulder, fingers bunching around her thin sleeve. “Well, you must care now.”</p>
<p>The intensity gives Ruby pause. She looks at Aqua with an uncertain eye, searching her face for something. They are close to each other. Their noses are only inches apart. In a hesitance unusual to her, Ruby says, “Why? We talked about it in class, but I don’t really get it. Sometimes poofing and cracking happens when you gotta get things done.”</p>
<p>“Because -!” She grabs both of Ruby’s shoulders now. “Because <em>I</em> care!” It sounds selfish, but she doesn’t bother going back on what she said - somehow this selfishness is a bit different from her usual. What are these feelings? What are the words for them? “Gah!” She throws her hands uselessly in the air. There’s no way to explain to a Ruby of all Gems why poofing and cracking should be avoided. She can hardly explain it to herself! “I - there’s obviously a reason that the course’s first goal was to teach you about safety. Correct?”</p>
<p>“No one wants to shatter, but there are remedies for cracking now, and poofing is just a fact of existence. So I’m sure there’s reason involved, I just…” Ruby shrugs. “Can’t think of it.”</p>
<p>Aquamarine droops. “But, it -” She bites her lip with pointed fangs. Where are the words? “It… seeing you hurt or in pain is… unwelcome.”</p>
<p>“So, safety is just to be nice to the Gems around me?” Ruby quirks an irritated eyebrow at the idea.</p>
<p>“No! I’m trying to say that you don’t <em>need</em> to put up with injury!” Aquamarine wants to reach out, to touch Ruby again, but she fears that the acceptable moment for that has passed. The words she’s been looking for finally tumble out, and she only understands them as they emerge. “How shall I put it… you have <em>value</em>. To me, but also… to yourself?”</p>
<p>Ruby silently mulls this over. Her dusky red hands worry at the pamphlet paper.</p>
<p>“Valuables don’t get thrown around recklessly,” Aquamarine adds, hopefully in a way that helps.</p>
<p>“I suppose,” she grumbles. “Then…” She looks out at the pile of bowls. Then why’d you toss all the stuff you made?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine waves a hand dismissively. “Those don’t count. They’re not - they’re not <em>good</em> bowls. I couldn’t get it right before I left today.” And then all of a sudden she feels like her very Gem is cracking, because Ruby is <em>walking over to the bowls and why in the stars’ names is she doing that.</em></p>
<p>Before she could stop herself, Aqua flits over to the bowls and holds herself out. “Don’t!”</p>
<p>Ruby looks up, gripping a brown, cup-shaped bowl with a tear in the lip. “Why not?” Defiant as ever, she disregards Aqua’s defensive stance and brings the bowl into her hands. One finger runs along the lip, catching on the baked-in notch in the clay. She lifts it up to twist and turn it in the light, and that’s when Aquamarine remembers that Ruby is used to assessments, that Ruby is used to judging something for its integrity.</p>
<p>“Ahh! What are you doing?!” Ruby shouts, because Aquamarine had just barreled into her.</p>
<p>She wrests the bowl from Ruby’s grip and throws it to the ground. It splits along the tear on impact. The two halves rock uselessly for a few seconds, and then become still.</p>
<p>They freeze at the sound.</p>
<p>Ruby’s eye follows the source of the noise to the broken pottery. “What… why the heck did you do that?”</p>
<p>“It’s not valuable. It’s not <em>good</em>.” Aqua’s wings flick outwards in frustration. “These things aren’t the kind that you would know to expect from my competence.” The anger is fleeting, now. Her wings lower down and then disappear completely.</p>
<p>To her surprise, Ruby <em>laughs</em>.</p>
<p>“What?!” She demands.</p>
<p>Ruby snorts. “I - this isn’t - I’m not laughing <em>at</em> you. I just… why would I expect you to be some kinda pottery genius within the day?”</p>
<p>“I am not supposed to be a - a pottery master! I am just supposed to be able to fulfill tasks properly the first time!”</p>
<p>Ruby laughs harder now. “Good luck with that! I bet my first actual try at carpentry is gonna be a mess,” she comments. Her feet take her to the pile of pottery, where she picks up another wonky piece. “These aren’t perfect. Obviously. But you made ‘em with your own two hands.” She is truly excited when she says, “Isn’t that <em>great?</em> Doesn’t it feel… I dunno, doesn’t it make you feel something?”</p>
<p>“But -”</p>
<p>“And check this out.” She returns to the stacks of bowls, sifting through. “These all have character. Hmm… I think I prefer this one.” The piece that ends up in her hands is a squat, low bowl with a few inconsistencies in the thickness of the walls. She places it onto the lone table in the room and swipes her cactus from the windowsill seat. Aquamarine has quite possibly never been more confused in her life, and that’s including the switch from Era 2 to Era 3.</p>
<p>“Apparently you gotta ‘water’ these plants yourselves,” Ruby continues, “or else they die. When I water my plant, the water escapes through the lil’ hole at the bottom of the pot. But -” Ruby meticulously places her potted cactus in the center of the pottery dish with all the concentration of a mission. “Now, I can water my plant without getting the windowsill wet.” She finishes her demonstration by crossing her arms in satisfaction. “It works great!”</p>
<p>“But I -” Aquamarine is floundering. “What does it mean if it’s not ‘good’?”</p>
<p>“What does it <em>mean?</em>”</p>
<p>“Yes! Doing things well isn’t supposed to be difficult for me!”</p>
<p>“Nice, Aqua. Real nice,” Ruby scoffs, but she doesn’t seem truly angry.</p>
<p>“I - they’re just not!”</p>
<p>“Aqua!” Ruby abandons the table and approaches her. “Seriously, everything's <em>fine</em>.” She rubs her neck. “I actually really like these.” She gestures to the earth-tone potterware still scattered and stacked at their feet. “I thought it was… nice, that you came back with all of these. I was thinking you must’ve really liked the class. And since you’ve been having trouble finding stuff you like…” She shrugs. “I dunno. I get… enjoyment from seeing and using the things you made. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. They - how did you say it? They have value to me.” Ruby looks at an empty wall of their apartment instead of deigning to look Aqua in the eye. She seems to struggle for a second, warring with her words. “Cause they’re from you.”</p>
<p>Her eye comes back to Aqua’s face. She’s flushed an unusually deep, cold shade.</p>
<p>“Don’t be weird about it,” Ruby growls.</p>
<p>Aqua finally breaks out of her trance-like position. “Weird about it? I....” She truly doesn’t know what to say. Every day since they had landed on that island had been newer and more foreign than the last. This truly isn’t Era 2 anymore, yet things still linger. Ruby doesn’t actually need a justification of Aquamarine’s value, just like Aquamarine herself holds inherent value in Ruby’s mere presence. Suddenly, she feels silly for worrying about, what, proving herself?</p>
<p>She holds out her hands decisively. “Ruby,” she prompts.</p>
<p>Ruby glances at her hands with playful suspicion. “Are you going to freeze my fingers again?”</p>
<p>The question is so misaligned with the mood that Aquamarine actually bursts into a peal of laughter. “What? I - no, just…” In lieu of more words, she awkwardly grabs Ruby’s hands in her own smaller ones. Ruby’s hands are more square, more blunt, and Aquamarine cradles them in her thin fingers and palms. “Thank you. What you said means a lot to me.” She looks Ruby in the eye. “Truly.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Huh.” It seems like Ruby is about to pull her hands away, but instead she squeezes the cold hands beneath her warm ones. “I mean, it’s nothing.”</p>
<p>Aquamarine lets her hands go. “The world is very different now.” It sounds like it comes out of nowhere, but Ruby just nods in perfect understanding.</p>
<p>“I know.” She immediately buries their solemnness. “Want to fly around as Bluebird before we gotta get to our Acclimation course?”</p>
<p>Without saying a word, Aquamarine presses a light, agreeable touch to Ruby’s shoulder. After a familiar burning brightness, Bluebird leaves their housing unit and takes off.</p><hr/>
<p>“Hey there, Ruby. Can we chat?”</p>
<p>Ruby stops in her tracks, shouldering a small cross-body bag that she had brought with her for her plan. She’s not one to typically utilize anything other than her light form, but holding anything in her Gem other than her knife gives her headaches. Hence, the bag. “Oh. Hi, Bismuth. Is somethin’ wrong?”</p>
<p>Bismuth laughs one of her rich laughs. “No, nothing's wrong. Actually, I potentially have some good news for ya.”</p>
<p>Good news? News in general isn’t something Gems usually decide to bring to Ruby - or Aquamarine, for that matter. Anything new happening around Little Homeworld seems to be circulated through daily reports that get sent out to communicators and printed on thin, leafy pages. Ruby’s picked up an issue of it before, and tried her hand at the English translations, but had to stick to reading the Gem Glyph columns in the end.</p>
<p>At Ruby’s silent curiosity, Bismuth gestures for them to enter some kind of establishment off the cobblestone path of Little Homeworld. Despite being in the heart of what is technically Gem territory, the place is run by human organics, and seems to specialize in items meant for consumption.</p>
<p>They take seats near the back of the building. Ruby tries to pay attention to the interior. She’s been doing that more lately, now that her new classes are calling her attention to certain things.</p>
<p>“You want anything? On the house.” Bismuth smiles easily. She seems completely relaxed, and Ruby figures things must be less stressful for her than when they first met.</p>
<p>Ruby squints appraisingly at the items being laid out for others nearby. They look oddly-textured, some overly gooey. “I’ve… never done this before.”</p>
<p>“Oh! Uh,” Bismuth snaps her fingers. “Any experience with shapeshifting?”</p>
<p>Ruby shakes her head.</p>
<p>“Oh. Hmm.” She thinks for a moment. “I’ll just get you a water and if you want to try it, we’ll figure that out after.” She calls an organic over and asks for a water and something unknown to Ruby. Once the well-dressed human leaves, Bismuth turns her attention back to her guest. “I actually wanna float something by you first.”</p>
<p>At this, Ruby stiffens instinctively. She’s only had positive experiences with this Bismuth, bar the beginning of their first meeting, but someone asking her to do something with or for them still bears an uncomfortable weight. And in this strange new world, Bismuth would definitely far outrank her. “What’re you thinking?”</p>
<p>“Nothin’ bad, Eyeball! Actually, we’ve finally been able to gather some Gems to head to that island of yours and pick up that corrupted Amethyst. Your coordinates were right, so that’s good, but…” She leans back in her chair, hands linked behind her head. “I was wondering how you’d feel about being the guide for this little mission. No one’s been on that island as much as you and Pixie Stix, and I know from your enrollment file that you’ve got eons of terrain and leadership experience.”</p>
<p>Ruby nods in response, ignoring her own question about what Pixie Stix are.</p>
<p>“And here’s the kicker. If this goes well, you two will officially get out of temporary housing into a permanent home!” Bismuth claps her hands together happily.</p>
<p>A permanent home.</p>
<p>A <em>home</em>.</p>
<p>Those ideas are nebulous for now. They settle strangely within Ruby, as if weighing her down. How do Gems even begin having a home? Logically, she knows they do, on Earth, but…</p>
<p>Gah, Ruby doesn’t have time for this! The strap of the bag constricts her shoulder, reminding her of the task she had set for herself.</p>
<p>“What, is there a catch or something?”</p>
<p>Bismuth doesn’t seem fazed by Ruby’s shortness. “Not really. Of course, that reward is only if you don’t pull anything weird. No betrayal or nothin’. Although, to be honest?” She shrugs. “I don’t think you and Aqua even have it in you to do some really evil stuff.”</p>
<p>The roundabout compliment throws Ruby off. Before she can argue something kinda stupid about being fully capable, though, an organic returns to place a glass of water in front of her. Bismuth, meanwhile, receives a pastel purple drink with some kind of wide apparatus running throughout, and small colorful bead-like things gathering at the bottom of the cup. Ruby eyes it with suspicion.</p>
<p>“It’s bubble tea!” Bismuth declares, as if that clears anything up. “I know the purple seems a bit on-the-nose for me, but I actually just like the taste of taro. Food’s changed a lot here on Earth since… well, nevermind.” She takes a sip through the apparatus. “Are you gonna talk, or what?”</p>
<p>“Yeah - I was just caught off guard.” Ruby regards her glass of water with suspicion. “You say it’s a mission to retrieve that Amethyst?” At Bismuth’s nod, Ruby hums. “What Gems will be coming along?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think you know them. They’re both combat apprentices. I’d invite Ames along - she really likes to help bring other Amethysts around - but she’s pretty busy nowadays as a teacher.”</p>
<p>Bismuth gives Ruby some more details to bring back to Aquamarine. For now, Ruby declines the offer to learn how to shapeshift for the purpose of consumption. Just the idea makes her cringe. Soon enough, they part ways at the entrance to the eatery, and Ruby can finally rush off to continue her mission.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of Gems and humans out today, their feet pattering along the cobblestone and sidewalks. Ruby walks along too. She sticks her hand in her bag, hearing the sheet of paper crinkle around inside before she pulls it out. It was folded into a square; she unfolds it to reference it again.</p>
<p>Earlier today, Bluebird attended her Acclimation course and got these hand-outs as part of a Social Interaction lecture. The top of the hand-out bears a colorful drawing of two generic Gems and a human, all smiling. The Gem Glyph printed below talks about friendly gestures that show someone you care. One of them is gift-giving. To Ruby’s frustration, it unfortunately doesn’t specify any further - all it says is to give the person or Gem ‘something you think they’ll like.’</p>
<p>Nodding at the paper, Ruby puts it in her bag again, wishing for a moment that it had more specific directions. What would she <em>like?</em> The scenery around Ruby is blending from official buildings to Gem-run businesses now, still with plenty of foot traffic all around her. She dodges the taller beings that don’t seem as cognizant of her, and slips between groups that laugh and talk amongst themselves.</p>
<p>Her maneuvering practically pushes her into a small store whose walls are covered in little trinkets and knick-knacks of all sorts. The sight is a tad overwhelming, so she examines each item on its own as she passes the shelves: Little Homeworld keychains, Little Homeschool paraphernalia, small useless toys, collections of tiny accessories.</p>
<p>“Do you need any help?” A Jade smiles, suddenly having appeared beside Ruby. She’s decorated with little Earth items - a few necklaces, and a few brightly-colored hair clips that hold down her wild green tufts.</p>
<p>Ruby hums in consideration of the shelves’ and tables’ contents. “What do you have for hair?”</p>
<p>The Jade claps her hands together with joy. “I have lots of things you can put in your hair!”</p>
<p>After five minutes perusing, Ruby makes her purchase and slips it into her bag with a smile on her face.</p><hr/>
<p>In retrospect, Ruby feels very stupid. Not about anything in particular - perhaps just the whole idea.</p>
<p>She runs hot, her face burning. Maybe the class is wrong, and maybe gifts are dumb! In fact, she would tell Aqua not to open it at all, but Aquamarine’s already lifting the gift out of its little cardboard box, and Ruby’s not the type to try to cover up her mistakes.</p>
<p>However, she will try to explain herself, especially since it’s an item exclusive to Earth.</p>
<p>Uncharacteristically, Ruby stammers. “There’s apparently stiff little boards humans use to make their hair a bun shape. And you just pull a bit of your hair through the slit in the middle, roll your hair up with it, and fold the ends over each other to make a bow. And since it can also straighten back out again, it just - it reminded me of your wand,” she mutters in a sort of growl. Thoroughly red now, she crosses her arms and taps her foot, looking away. The more she says about it, the more she thinks that maybe she should’ve just thrown away the gifting hand-out the second they left class today.</p>
<p>Aquamarine’s looking at the gift now, Ruby knows. She resists the urge to bite the inside of her cheek.</p>
<p>“Ruby…”</p>
<p>Ruby turns to look at her, maybe a bit too quickly. “Uh - yeah?”</p>
<p>Aquamarine’s not laughing, though. She’s smiling a small, sincere, almost wistful smile, and that’s when Ruby knows that she likes it. <em>She likes it!</em> Aqua holds up the navy-blue bun maker with one hand and asks, “Show me how to use it?”</p>
<p>And Ruby agrees.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*shows up 20yrs late w fluff* i am so fucking sorry</p>
<p>the hair thing ruby gets aqua is a smaller version of these: https://www.etsy.com/listing/985477209/chic-chignon-maker-roll-a-bun-twist-a?ref=pla_similar_listing_bot-3&amp;frs=1 honestly if slap bracelets could reasonably be hair ties, ruby would have given her an actual slap bracelet.</p>
<p>i can't say when i'll next update this but my semester is almost over so i might be able to update this more in the summer, we'll see! sorry for the long wait. i hope the longer chapter and the illustrations make up for it a little bit :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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